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Un dee symboles sulvants apparattra sur la darniire image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols —► signlfie "A SUIVRE", le symbols ▼ signifle "FIN". ■Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure ara filmad beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent ttre fllmte A dee taux da rMuction diffArents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atra raproduit an un aaul ciichA, 11 est filmA A partir da I'angle supArleur gauche, de gauche k droite, et de haut an bas, an prenant ta nombre d'imagea nAcassaira. Las diagrammas suivants illustrant la mAthode. 1 2 3 r ■ I- , t a 4 5 6 1 \ \y '< .-. ^ THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. A GUIDE FOK STUDENTS OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. Br ARTHUR B. WILLMOTT, M.A., B.Sc. Prqfettor of Natural Science, MeMatUr Vmvergity; formerly Astintant in Mineralogy, Harvard Univertity. LONDON : DAVIES & GODDARD, 3 Clbrkbnwbll Road. 1898. B \ V -^y -..-^tljl^ TN3LL n9? 4f .■I)' I .1 PREFACE. ■w m «.aa For several years the author of this book has been giving a short course of lectures to his class in geology on the economic minerals of Canada. While it is not customary to treat this subject so fully in an elementary class, he has felt that in a young undeveloped country like our own, it was highly desirable that all university students should know something of our latent mineral wealth. So, at the expense of Palaeontology, much of which is more suitable for an advanced course, time was found for economic geology in the elementary one. To save the labor of dictation, and to make them useful to a larger number, these lecture notes are now published. They have been somewhat extended, to make the subject clearer to the general reader, who has not had any pre- liminary training in geology. So far as known, it is the only work giving a systematic account of the mineral resources of the Dominion. Originality, except in method of treatment, is not claimed. The work is a compilation founded largely on the excellent reports of the Geological Survey of Canada. These bulky volumes and the detailed statements in the reports of the Provincial departments vi9^3 11 PREFACE. of mines, while well and favorably known to the specialist, are almost unknown to the general reader, and unsuited for the elementary student. It is hoped tliat this book will not only prove serviceable itself, but that by its numerous references it will stimulate students to seek fuller information in the reports mentioned. It has not been thought necessary in a book of this kind to burden it with references to the author whose work has been used. For the most part these works have been cited in the literature at the end of each chapter, but only those books appear which are likely to prove accessible to the student. Special works not usually found in small libraries have been omitted. Some changes have been mode in the spelling of chemical terms, as recommended by the Chemical Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and as adopted by the " Standard " Dictionary. The kind assistance of several friends is gratefully ac- knowledged. To Dr. Coleman of the School of Practical Science, and to Mr. A. Blue, Director of the Bureau of Mines, the author is particularly indebted. The latter has read the work in proof, and special thanks are due to him for many valuable emendations. Toronto, August 10th, 1897. r ii !« \ -'A: list, ited )ook its seek this ^ hose -;'. V orks ""«. ' , , each 1 ■ ' ikely • not 3ome srms, ^ rican d as y ac- ;tical lU of r has ' ^ » him / ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. •^ \ Chapter I. PAoa 7 Introduotioh . Comparison of the mineral resources of Canada with those of other cmintries — Description of rock-forming minerals— Origin of rooks — Kinds of rocks — Relative ages of rocks — Chart of geological time — General literature. ' ■ ■ • . Section L— MINERALS YIELDING METALS. Chapter II. Ore Deposits 21 Definition of ore — Usual combinations of the metals — Classification of ore deposits — Fissure veins — The filling of veins— Surface appearance of ores — Distribution — Erroneous ideas. Chapter III. Iron, Manganese and Chromium Ores of iron — Impurities— Canadian localities — PrO' duction — Literature — Manganese — Chromium. 40 Chapter IV. Nickel and Cobalt Ores — Distribution — Geological occurrence Production — Literature. Uses- 50 * IV CONTENTS. * ' Chaptbr V. OOPPIR AND BVLFUR Ores of copper — Geological oootiri'enco — Canadian local- ities — History of mining operations — Production in Canada and other countries— Occurrence of sulfur — Uses — Localities whore mined. PAOM n5 Chai>trr VI. Gold and Platinum . . 60 Comparison of Canada with other countries— Origin — Geological occurrence— Methods of milling— Canadian mines — Production. Chapter VII. Silver, Lead and Zinc ........ The ores of silver — Silver mines of Ontario and British Columbia — Production — Lead ores— Canadian mines — Zinc ores — Literature. SI Chapter VIIL Arsenic, Antimony, Tin, Aluminum and Mercury . Ores of arsenic — Production in Ontario — Ores of anti- mony — Mines of New Brunswick — Ores of tin — Ores of aluminum— Occurrence of mercury in Canada. 92 Section TL — MINERALS YIELDING NON- METALLIC PRODUCTS. Chapter IX. Salt, Gypsum and Barite 98 Occurrence of salt — Origin — Localities in Canada — Manufacture — Production — Localities and production of gypsum and barite. CONTENTS. » Chapter X. •, Apatitk and Mioa , Qeological ooourronco and prcxluction of apatite— Uso —Occurrence of mica — Use an«l production. VKon 112 ClIAPTRR XI. Asbestos, Actinolitk and Talo 119 Composition of the minerals — Occurrence in Quel)ec — Mothod of Mining— Uses — Production — Literature. Chapter XII. Pkat, Coal, Graphite Origin of peat — Uses — Localities — Kinds of coal — AnalyseH of a number of Canadian coals — Impurities in coal — Geological relations of coal — Origin of coal — Tables showing gradual passage from wood — Descrip- tion of the different coal-fields —Production — Literature — Description of graphite — Occurrence - Use. 124 Chapter XIII. The Htdrooarbons Composition of petroleum — Geological occurrence — Canadian oil-fields — Refining and use —Production — Composition of natural gae- Occurrence in Canada — Use and production — Asphalt — Anthraxolite — Albertite. 148 Section IIL— ROCKS AND THEIR PRODUCTS. Chapter XIV. Granite and Sandstone Uses of stone — Qualities of building stones — Production of granite — Origin of sandstone — Occurrence and use as building stone — Other uses of sand and sandstone. 161 vl CONTKJiTfil. * • ; Chapter XV. PAOH Clay and Slatb 171 Origin and composition of olay— Uaos — Production- Origin of slato — Oocurronoo. Ciiaptkr XVI. LiMRSTONR 179 Origin and occurrence of limestone— Use for building * material — Murblo — Litliographio stono — Mortar and cement. Ciiaptkr XVII. Soils and Mineral Fertilizers 187 Origin of soil — Conditions of fertility — Ashes of plants — Analyses of some Canadian soils— Geological fertilizers. Appendix . . . . . . . . . . 190 Summary of mineral production, 1894 and 1895 — ,. Tabular comparison of Canada with other countries in mineral production. THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. In estimating the natural resources of our Dominion one thinks first of the boundless acres of fertile soil. These, a perennial source of wealth, which under good management can never be* exhausted, are certainly our principal asset. At the same time it must be remembered that the annual production of both our forests and our fisheries amounts to many million dollars. Until recently the product of our mines was the least of these four resources, and this was not because we were without mineral resourceis, but that we had barely begun to exploit them. Timber, fish, minerals are supplies laid up for us by Nature on which we can draw at will. Minerals once mined are never replaced. Timber once cut might be, but with us, never is, restored. Our fish- eries we make some poor attempts to preserve. In agriculture alone do we seek to keep our rich inheri- tance intact. But though our mineral wealth be a fleeting one — though it be a resource which cannot , .••.-■.■ . -. . ' . ..'^:- •■■•./■.• -'-■ ■ ■*' 8 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. be cultivated and increased like timber or fish — it is an asset of such enormous extent that it may be drawn on for hundreds of years to an amount far in excess of that annually produced by either our forests or our fisheries. In considering the possibilities of mineral develop- ment, attention must first be directed to the extent and character of our country. With an area a little larger than that of the United States and with the same physical features, it would be strange indeed if much of the mineral wealth of that country were not duplicated north of the boundary. The Rocky Moun- tains and parallel ranges extend for some 1,300 miles through the States of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyom- ing and Montana, and for an equal distance through British Columbia and the Yukon District, and it is safe to assert that their mineral wealth does not stop at the forty-ninth parallel. So also the Sierra Nevada of California is represented north of the boundary by the Coast Range of British Columbia, and the latter niay yet prove as rich as the former. In the east the Appalachian system is perhaps even richer north of the boundary than south of it, though it is, of course, of much less extent. In the V-shaped territory of Archasan rocks stretching on either side of Hudson Bay from the Arctic to the St. Lawrence, there is an immense depository for minerals unequalled south of the line. True, we miss on the north the immense coal deposits of the Mississippi basin, but in a measure we have compensation in very fair-sized coal beds on both our Atlantic and Pacific coasts. It THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. has been customary for Canadians to lament the existence of this large area of non-agricultural terri- tory. But Nature always makes compensation. If by mountain upturning or glacial erosion she has rendered parts of our country unsuited for farming, she has in most instances at the same time raised and uncovered inexhaustible stores of silver and gold, of copper and iron. Nearly the equal of Europe in size, we surpass any one nation of that continent in the variety of our mineral deposits, and may yet edual the richest of them in the total value of our production. Great Britain has had large deposits of coal, and her produc- tion is the greatest in the world. Her output must, however, shortly begin to lessen, while ours will increase. Russia stands second as a petroleum pro- ducer, and will no doubt surpass us for years. It is possible, however, that fields will be discovered in the North- West quite the equal of hers. The copper output of Spain at present exceeds ours, but the deposits here are quite as extensive as there. Similarly with other minerals, different European nations sur- pass us in production, but it is probable that our deposits are the more extensive, except in the case of coal, petroleum and tin. Already in asbestos we have surpassed not only Europe but the world. Italy, our only competitor, is far behind. With nickel we occupy the same proud position. Our gold product, though it may never equal that of Australia or the United States, may easily exceed that of all Europe combined. Our deposits of iron, lead, silver, copper, salt and NT 10 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. other minerals are enormous. They are, however, almost entirely undeveloped. We can only guess at their value. So far we have, as a people, merely scratched the surface of a few acres of our mineral inheritance. Australia, with an area and population both slightly less than our own, has an annual mineral production nearly three times the value of ours. Belgium, a country of only 6,200,000 inhabitants, crowded into an area about half the size of Nova Scotia, draws twice as large an income from her mines as does Canada. And yet it is very probable that there is as much mineral wealth in Nova Scotia alone as in Belgium. Indeed, Nova Scotia, with coal and iron deposits in close proximity to each other and to the ocean, should, like Belgium, send her iron manufactures to the ends of the world. While we have been slow in beginning the develop- ment of our mines a fair start has now been made, and we may hope for more rapid advancement in the near future. The total value of the mineral product for 1895 was about twenty-three and a half million dollars. Coal is the most important, yielding annu- ally about eight million dollars. Gold is second, with a product approaching three million in value, which gives us tenth place among the nations. Nickel, cop- per and petroleum each exceed one million in value, and the silver output now amounts to over two million. In coal we rank eleventh, in petroleum fourth, and in silver tenth. Bricks and building stones are the only other products passing the million line in value. In ten years the total production has doubled. (See Within the last two years the gold and THE MINERA WEALTH OF CANADA. 11 silver output of British Columbia has increased enor- mously. Estimated at $380,000 in 1893, it grew to about $2,200,000 in 1895, and reached $3,900,000 in 1896. In succeeding chapters there will be given a descrip- tion of the different economic minerals, the localities where they are found, and their uses and value. To do so will require the use of some geological terms, which we will now consider. Rock-forminf? Minerals. — A mineral is an inor- ganic, homogeneous substance of definite, chemical composition. It may be a chemical element, more usually it is a compound resulting from the union of two or more elements in a definite proportion. A rock on the contrary is composed "of one or more simple minerals having usually a variable chemical composition, with no necessarily symmetrical, external form, and ranging in cohesion from mere loose debris up to the most compact stone." For example, granite is a rock composed of a variable mixture of the minerals, quartz, felspar and mica. Sandstone, limestone, sand and gravel are other examples of rocks. Gypsum is a mineral of definite composition, which in large masses may be considered a rock. Minerals which are of economic value will be de- scribed later under the substance they yield. A brief description of the chief rock-forming minerals will be given here. Quartz is the most widely disseminated mineral. It is readily distinguished by its glassy lustre and great hardness. It will easily scratch glass and can- not be scratched by a knife. It never breaks in flat 12 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. surfaces but always in curved ones. In color it is usually transparent or white, though often stained yellow or red by iron oxid. Felspar embraces several species which are much alike in physical features. All split in two directions with flat shining surfaces. In one variety, ortho- clase, these cleavages are at right angles. In the other varieties, known collectively as plagioclase, they are nearly at right angles. The latter are sodium, calcium, aluminum silicates ; the former has potassium in place of sodium and calcium. The felspars can just be scratched with a knife. The micas are easily known by their cleavage into thin elastic leaves. Some are clear and transparent, others black and opaque. Pyroxene and hornblende are almost alike in com- position but differ in their angles of cleavage. This is a distinction not evident in hand specimens of rocks. Both, as found in rocks, are dark green or black minerals with a hardness a little less than fel- spar. With a blowpipe they are much more easily fused. GaZcite is easily recognized when crystallized by the rhombohedrons or twisted cubes into which it readily breaks. All varieties are easily cut with a knife, and effervesce readily when touched with a drop of acid. In color calcite is usually white or grey. Dolomite differs from calcite in having mag- nesium carbonate mixed with the calcium carbonate of the latter. It effervesces with acids only when heated. Chlorite occurs in thin leaves like the micas, but unlike them is not elastic. It varies in color from light THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 13 to dark green. It is comparatively soft, and frequently has a pearly lustre. Serpentine is usually a massive mineral with an oily green color and greasy feel. It is easily scratched with a knife. The fibrous variety is the asbestos of commerce. ^ ' Origin of Rocks. — The minerals described above with the occasional addition of a few others in sub- ordinate amounts compose the bulk of our rocks. These constituent minerals are sometimes found with a more or less perfect crystal form, at other times with the edges rounded and worn. The particles vary in both cases from grains of microscopic size to masses of considerable dimensions. The rounded grains are evidently the result of moving water grinding down previously existing rocks. Rocks with this class of material are found to be arranged in layers as though due to beds of sediment deposited one on the other. These constitute the first great division of rocks known as the Sedimentary, Stratified or Fragmental Rocks. The second division embraces the Massive, Igneous or Eruptive Rocks, which have evidently solidified from a fluid condition either within the crust of the earth or after eruption from a volcano. The sharp angles of the crystals are preserved, and one mineral interlocks with another. These rocks present no appearance of bedding. The third and last division is known as the Schistose Rocks. They present characters intermediate to the other two. They are distinctly bedded, but do not show fragmen- tal grains. The crystalline character of the constit- uents points to solidification from a fluid. In some 2 14 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. cases they are doubtless sediments which have been subjected to sufficient heat to permit of the recrystal- lization of the minerals without destroying the strati- fication. For this reason they are often called the Metamorphic Rocks. In other cases they are Igneous Rocks, in which the divisional planes have been pro- duced after the first consolidation. Description of Rocks. — A few of the more important representatives of the above divisions will be described here. Sand is an unconsolidated mass of fine worn grains of the harder minerals. Quartz is much the largest constituent since it resists decay, whilst the other minerals of the rocks, which are being worn down, are slowly carried off. Magnetite, an oxid of iron, is frequently abundant and gives a black color to the sand. Gravel is coarse sand. Sandstone is simply consolidated sand, in some cases produced by pressure alone, in others due to a cement- ing material. The cement may be clay, iron oxid, silica, or calcite. The first gives rise to a clayey or argillaceous sandstone, which may graduate into a sandy or arenaceous shale. The red and yellow sand- stones are due to oxids of iron. A Conglomerate is formed of rounded pebbles up to a foot or more in diameter consolidated in any way. It bears the same relation to gravel and shingle that sandstone does to sand. Clay results from the decay of felspars and similar silicates of the crystalline rocks. Deposited in water in beds it becomes more or less consolidated, and is then known as shale. j.'Sfe THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 15 Limeatones consist mainly of calcite or of calcite and dolomite. They also contain greater or less quantities of impurities — iron, giving them a red color ; carbonaceous matter making them dark ; clay, and silica or sand. They are usually grey or drab in color, of compact structure, and frequently contain organic remains. Some of them found associated with crystalline rocks have been metamorphosed by the action of heat and pressure, and are of a crystalline, granular texture. Fine-grained ones, susceptible of polish, are used as marble. ;; Granite is the most important of the massive or igneous rocks. It consists of an intimate mixture of quartz, felspar and mica. The crystals of these minerals may be barely visible or of considerable dimensions. The felspar may be red or white in color, and the granite is always of a corresponding hue. Granite occurs in masses of large extent and also in dikes in other rocks. Mica may be replaced by hornblende, the rock then being called a horn- blende granite. > - Felaite is an intimate mixture of exceedingly fine- grained felspar and quartz. It varies in color through grey, red and brown shades, is slightly trans- lucent and can be fused with a blowpipe, while quartz, which it resembles, cannot. Quartz-Porphyry. — Large distinct crystals of quartz or felspar are often found in felsite or in a fine- grained, microgranitic ground-mass. Such a rock is known as a porphyry. : Syenite is a granular crystalline mixture of ortho- clase felspar and hornblende, usually red or grey 16 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. in color. It differs from granite in the absence of quartz. - Diorite is a granular crystalline mixture of plagio- clase felspar and hornblende. It is dark green to black in color, usually fine grained and often contains magnetite. Diabase, dolerite and basalt are closely related to diorite, and as all four weather to a green color they are often called greenstones. Gneiss. — Among the schistose rocks gneiss is the most important. It resembles granite in being a crystalline mixture of quartz, felspar and mica. It has, however, a banded structure which seems in some cases to be the result of an earlier stratification. This laminated appearance is not always very distinct, and gneiss merges gradually into granite. Mica Schist 18 a schistose aggregate of quartz and mica, each arranged in lenticular wavy laminse. The mica may be the light or dark colored variety. Seri- cite mica may replace the ordinary micas, when a aericite schist results. Chlorite and talc with quartz and other minerals make respectively chlorite schist and talc schist. The last three are grey or green in color, with a pearly lustre and greasy feel. Slate results from the metamorphism and recrystallization in layers of ordinary clay and shale. Relative Age of Rocks. — On examining any ex- posed section of the sedimentary rocks, it becomes at once evident that the older rocks are lowest in the series and the newer ones on top. In the same way it has been determined in many parts of the world that the sedimenta^ry rocks rest on a fundamental complex of igneous rocks. In certain of the sedimen- I' THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 17 tary strata coal seams are found in many parts of the world, and it at once becomes a matter of great interest to us as Canadians to know whether rocks of the same age occur here. Other strata are character- ized by iron ores, or lead ores, and so on. Geologists have thus found it advantageous, from an economical as well as from a scientific standpoint, to correlate in age the various rocks of the world as far as possible. Three guiding principles are used: — 1. That of super- position, that the newer rocks are above the older. In mountainous regions rocks have frequently been crumpled and overturned, and this principle cannot then be applied. Moreover, it does not help to corre- late the ages of rocks not lying together. 2. The principle that rocks which are alike were formed at the same time. This is only true for limited areas, for, to take one example, sandstones formed ages apart are alike in composition and structure. 3. The principle that animal life was the same the world over at corresponding periods in the growth of each section of the sedimentary deposits. On studying the fossil remains entombed in the stratified rocks, it was found that certain formations contained trilobites in abundance, others graptolites, others fish, and so on. These characteristic animals were not confined to one horizon but were found in several. Beginning in one period they increased enormously in a second, and died out in a third. Other animal life, of course, existed along with them. The life of a period as pre- sented to us in the rocks formed at the time, is thus quite sufficient to identify a rock formed at the same time in a remote part of the world. 18 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. In the study of English history it is customary to divide the subject into epochs. There is the Saxon epoch, the Norman epoch, the Plantagenet epoch, and so on. These are the great divisions, and under them are grouped the events which happened during the reigns of the successive sovereigns. Of course, the gradual development of the English nation went on irrespective of slight changes in rulers. But the reign of the sovereign, as the representative English- man, makes a natural division of time. So in geological history, the development of animal types went steadily on, but the ascendancy of some par- ticular group marks a division of time as does a dynasty in history. As to the relative lengths of the different geological time divisions little can be said. The main fact is the order of succession. The oldest rocks are without fossil remains, and are called the Azoic or Archaean series of rocks, and are said to have been formed in Archsean time. Above these rocks are found the Palaeozoic series ; on these the Mesozoic series ; on these again the Cenozoic series, which includes rocks now forming. These large divisions of time are subdivided as shown in the following chart, the oldest rocks being at the bottom of the page. The terms "time," "era," "period," "epoch," are divisions of time; the corresponding terms " series," " system," " group," " formation," refer to the rocks made during the interval of time. The first two divisions are of world-wide application ; the latter are only of local use. The capital letters are those used on the Geological Survey maps for the respective formations against which they are placed. V I THte MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. CHART OF GEOLOGICAL TIME. a Time. Era or System. Period oh Group. Epoch or Formation. Cenozoic. Quaternary or Post-Tertiary, M. Recent or Post- Glacial, M3. Glacial or Pleistocene, Ml. . ■' ^ ■';'. ' ' I ' Tertiary, L. Pliocene, L3. Miocene, L2. Oligocene, \ t | Eocene, f ^^' • -' Cretaceous, K. Cretaceous, K. Mesozoic. Jurassic, J. Jurassic, J. Triassic, H. Triassic, H. Carbonic, G. Permian, G4. Carboniferous. Subcarboniferous, Gl. /Coal Measures, G3. \MillstoneGrit, G2. ' Devonian, P. Upper Devonian, F3. Middle Devonian, F2. Lower Devonian, Fl. /Chemung. \ Portage. Hamilton. rComiferous. XOriskany. Paleeozoic. Silurian, E. Lower Holderberg, E6. Onondaga, E5. Niagara. fGuelph, E4. Niagara, E3. 1 Clinton, E2. l^Medina, El. Cambro-Silurian or LowerSilurian.D. Trenton. Canadian or Quebec. r Hudson, D4. - Utica, D3. (Trenton, D2. /Chazy. \Calciferou8. -■ , Cambrian, C. Upper Cambrian or Potsdam. Middle Cambrian or Acadian. Lower Cambrian or Georgian. ■ . ' ' ■ ■ "^ . Azoic or Huronian, B. Upper Huronian. Lower '* Archaean. Laurentian, A. Upper Laurentian. Lower " ^0 THE MlNti WEALI"!! <)t rA^ADA. LiTF TURK. — Much excellent inforniation on the econoinio mineral.^ . (A) Gash veins. ^ ; . Sub-class 2. Masses: r ^ '^ (i) Stockworks. "^ ■ ^ (j) Massive deposits in limestone. (k) Massive deposits connected with igneous rocks, (i) Disseminations in igneous rocks. Symphytic Deposits. —These have been laid down as beds in sedimentary rocks and have subsequently been subject to the same folding as the enclosing sediments. They may now be found in synclinals or basins, or in anticlinals or saddles. These ore deposits, like all other sediments, may be affected by fissures and faults. Portions of a bed originally con- tinuous may thus be found at very different levels on opposite sides of a fissure. The fault may also cause a horizontal separation of hundreds of feet. When the fault is vertical no horizontal displacement occurs. More frequently the fault is inclined, and dislocation results according to the following law: The portion of the bed that lies on the inclined plane slips ■^: THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 25 down relatively to the other part. Or, as it is stated for the miner, " if in driving on a bed a fault is met with in the roof, go down; if first in the floor, go up, to find the faulted portion." (a) The clastic deposits have been produced by the disintegration of more ancient metalliferous deposits. This may have occurred at the present position of the ore, but usually water has transported and assorted the products of decay. The black iron sands, mag- netite and ilmenite, are the most wide-spread repre- sentatives of this class in Canada. Along the Great Lakes and especially along the Lower St. Lawrence, immense bodies of these sands are met. They are due to the decomposition of the basic rocks of the Laurentian. Owing to their high percentage of titanium they are of little value as a source of iron. More important from the economical standpoint are the auriferous gravels of British Columbia and the sands of the Chaudifere, Quebec. The heavy gold brought from the mountains by the streams was deposited on the current being checked. These irregular beds are known as placers. The process has been going on in all geological periods, and auriferous gravels are known which were formed by rivers in Cambrian times. Platinum is entirely derived from similar placers. Tin, in the form of the oxid, is also largely won from river gravels. .: (6) The ores of iron and manganese are practically the only ones formed by precipitation from aqueous solution. The process has taken place in all ages and is still at work. The acids resultins: from the decay 26 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. of plant life are good solvents of the oxids of iron so widely distributed in the igneous rocks. The car- bonate of iron found in some limestones is soluble in water impregnated with carbonic acid. Iron pyrite oxidizes to ferrous, or ferric sulfate, both soluble salts. In these ways great quantities of iron are leached from the rocks and carried «o ponds, where, exposed to the action of the air, carbonic acid is evolved and the iron prec'pitated either as the carbonate or as the hydrated oxid. Limonite, or bog iron ore, is essentially the hydrated peroxid of iron (Fe^Og + 3 HgO), though impurities are often present. There is no doubt but that it is formed in the way indicated. This ore is found quite extensively near Three Rivers, Que. It occurs in swamps one to fifteen feet below the surface in patches from three to thirty inches thick, and from a few square feet to several acres in extent. Similar ore is found in lakes in Quebec and Sweden. The deposits are dredged, and it is found that they are renewed quite rapidly. In ten to twenty-five years economic amounts have been known to form. Clay iron-stone, or argillaceous carbonate of iron, is found in the Carboniferous rocks of Nova Scotia. It has doubtless been formed in the same way as the more recent deposits. (c) The deposits of this group were probably formed just as those of the previous one, but were afterwards subjected to metamorphism. The oxids of iron, hema- tite (FcgOg), and magnetite (FegO^), are the great representatives of the group. These ores were prob- ablv deposited as the hydrated oxid in swamns or S> THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 27 lakes. Subsequently the bog ore was covered by sediment, and the whole subjected to heat and pres- sure. The water was driven from the ore and the materials of the sediment recrystallized. In many cases the beds were upturned, and the present ores seem at times to be in veins rather than in beds. For the most part they occur in rocks of Laurentian, Huronian and Cambrian age. Scores of examples are afforded by the Archaean of Canada. (d) The ores disseminated through beds form a very important group economically. Genetically they connect the two great classes of ore deposits. The main mass of the rock, the non-metallic portion of the deposit, is of sedimentary origin. The metallic por- tion was introduced later, probably in solution. Some have held that the metallic portion also is of sedi- mentary origin. We know, however, of no process by which lead sulfid, copper sulfid or gold may be precipitated from sea-water. On the contrary, we do know that, under certain circumstances, subterranean water may carry these materials in solution. Indeed, it is in this way that fissures have been filled. Two examples of dissemination may be mentioned. In the Permian rocks of Mansfeld, Germany, there is a shale impregnated with several copper minerals, which has been mined for centuries. The bed, which is only a foot and a half thick, extends for miles. The rich gold deposits of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, are of similar origin. Sand and conglomerate beds, quite destitute of gold, were here upturned and faulted. Concurrently subterranean w^aters bearing gold in , 28 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. solution penetrated the more porous beds. The con- glomerates thus contain most of the gold — the sand- stones but little. Epactic Deposits. — All the ore deposits of this class were formed subsequently to the enclosing rocks, consequently fragments of these rocks are often found in the ore body. With the exception of iron the larger proportion of every metal is derived from this class of deposits. Two subdivisions of the class are recognized depending on the form of the deposit. Under the term vein is included the tabular deposits, which have considerable length and depth but small breadth. The mass deposits include the remaining irregular ones, which have no definite shape and are of varying size. (c) Fissure veins have originated in dislocations of the country rock, caused by movements of the earth's crust ; subsequently they have been filled with mineral matter. A dike, which bears a superficial re- semblance to a fissure vein, differs in that it has been formed by an intrusive sheet of igneous rock. Its constituents are generally non-metallic. A true fissure vein cuts across the planes of bedding of a sediment- ary rock. The walls of a vein are seldom parallel for any distance. This is due to the fact that there has usually been a slipping or faulting along the fissure. Conceive an irregular crack in the crust, and that one side has slipped downwards, and the walls will no longer be parallel; on the contrary there will be a succession of narrow and wide parts of the vein, if, THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 29 e con- sand- f this rocks, often Df iron i from e class leposit. Bposits, t small laining md are ications of the d with re- been Its fissure iment- )r any has Ifissure. one rill no be a ^ein, if, Lcial indeed, it does not pinch out entirely at place& Con** nected with this movement there will be a grinding of the two walls, which often leaves a peculiar smooth surface, with parallel scratches called slickensides. A fine powder also results. This with water forms a seam of clay — the selvage of the vein. Most of these fissures are vertical or nearly so. The greatest angle of inclination which they make with the horizon is called their dip. The horizontal direction at right angles to this is called the strike. With inclined veins the upper wall is known as the hanging wall ; the lower as the foot wall. In size veins vary greatly. Some have been traced for several miles in length ; others have been mined to a depth of half a mile. In thickness they vary from a minute crack to many yards. From their mode of formation they are believed to extend indefinitely in depth. Because of their persistency and regularity, true fissure veins are looked on with most favor by the miner. The ultimate cause of the formation of fissures is probably to be found in the cooling of the earth's interior. As this portion of the globe cools it must contract, and this necessitates the folding in of the outer crust. This crust must be crumpled and folded to permit of its occupying less space, and fissures would naturally occur parallel to the axis of folding. The settling down of the upper rocks would produce forces of compression and torsion, and Daubrde has shown experimentally that in this way two sets of fissures, at right angles to each other, would be pro- 3 80 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. duced. This is in accordance with the facts noticed in many mining regions. Some fractures may be due to the contraction of a cooling mass of igneous rock ; others are, perhaps, caused by the drying of a sedimentary rock, and consequent contraction and fissuring. Most fissures are, however, the result of dynamic causes, not of contraction. The fissure being formed, it is next in order to inquire how it was filled. Before discussing this point certain characteristics of veins should be noted. As a usual thing the larger part of every vein is occupied by the non-metalliferous gangue. Quartz, calcite and fluorite are' common vein-stones. They are crystalline in structure, and are often arranged in layers on the walls. The metallic portion of the vein is very irregularly distributed. In few cases do3s it pay to remove the whole of the vein-stone, and only the richer parts are hoisted to the surface. Some- times the metallic portion is concentrated in a horizontal band in the vein. This is known as a course of ore. At other times the metal-bearing minerals are concentrated in somewhat vertical bands in the plane of the vein. These are known as shoots (also written chutes) of ore, or chimneys. The shoots of a vein are usually parallel to one another, and the angle of inclination is most commonly that of the bedding or cleavage of the rocks in which the vein occurs. When the ore occui-s in detached patches it is said to be bunchy. . The nature of the country rock seems to often exert great influence on the ore body. In Cumber- THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. 31 ;iced I due ock; 3£ a and It of 3r to this loted. 3in is uartz, They □red in e vein [038 it only Some- in a as a earing mnds shoots shoots dthe )f the vein ;hes it often imber- !• 1 land, England, it has been noticed that the veins enclosed in limestone, sandstone or schist are more productive than those between walls of slate. In Derbyshire the veins traverse igneous rocks and also shales and sandstones. In the latter the veins are productive; in the former the lead ore is usually absent. At the famous Silver Islet mine. Lake Superior, the ore was found in a vein intersecting a diabase dike in argillite. The vein was exceptionally rich in the diabase, but barren in the argillite. Depth has no known influence on the character of a vein. The Filling of Veins. — After the formation of the fissure it was filled with gangue and ore. Where were the materials found, and how were they trans- ported to the vein? Seven distinct theories are tabulated by Louis, some of which have only an historical value : ' 1. Theory of Contemporaneous Formation. 2. Theory of Electric Currents. 3. Theory of Aqueous Deposition from above. 4. Theory of Igneous Injection. 5. Theory of Sublimation. • 6. Theory of Lateral Secretion. 7. Theory of Ascension. The first three may be dismissed as incorrect. The fourth, while the acknowledged mode of formation of dikes of ^'gneous rocks, does not account for many characteristics of veins. Sublimation probably ac- counts satisfactorily for the presence of mercury and cinnabar throughout a rock. The theory supposes the metal to be volatilized in the hot interior of the earth 32 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. and deposited in the cool part of the vein above. It fails to account for the vein-stones, and so cannot be accepted for many deposits. The theory of lateral secretion was put on a firm basis by the labors of Sandberger. He taught that water percolating through the country rock had, by means of natural solvents, such as carbonic acid, leached from it the materials which were afterwards deposited in the vein as the water evaporated. By careful chemical examinations he showed that all the common metals were to be found in the silicates of the crysialline rocks. Pyroxene, hornblende, the micas and the felspars were the depositories whence not only copper, lead, zinc, etc., were derived, but also the gangue materials, silica, fluorin, etc. Sedimentary rocks, apart from the limestones, con- sist of the debris of the older crystalline rocks. Con- sequently the metal-bearing silicates, finely comminu- ted it may be, should also be present in stratified rocks like shale and slate. Lead, copper, zinc, arsenic and others were actually found in clay slates. Thus he proved that the metals occurred in rocks of every geological age. This theory explains fairly well the origin of the metals and gangue, accounts for the frequent banded structure of a vein, explains the fact that shoots usually follow the dip of the enclosing rocks, and gives a good reason for the changes which take place when a vein passes from one formation to another. Against it may be urged that different sets of fissures traversing the same formation often contain very THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 88 )£the mded Ihoots and place )ther. jsures very different ores. It is also to be noted that a vein tra- versing several formations often contains the same ore. The theory of ascension had as its strongest sup- porter Posepny, of Germany. He believed that the vein material is carried in solution from the hot interior of the globe. Opposing the view that the metals are derived from the crystalline rocks, he sup- posed a heavy metalliferous layer at a considerable distance below the surface. Water slowly forcing its way down becomes superheated, and under the great pressure is an active solvent. In this way the metals and vein stone are leached from the rock, carried into the vein and deposited above. Veins are actually being formed to-day in this way in Nevada and Cali- fornia. The theory avoids some of the difficulties of the previous one, but creates others. American geologists are inclined to accept a theory combining the best points of the last two. Le Conte asserts that the source of the metals is a leaching of all the wall rocks, but mainly the lowest portions. Metals have been brought up by ascending currents, and smaller contributions have come from the upper rocks. Highly alkaline water was the main solvent. The sulfids were the chief minerals dissolved, and deposition took place in all kinds of fissures. The deposits are found mainly in mountainous regions and in metamorphic and igneous rocks, because there the fissures were made and the heated layer occurs nearest the surface. A fissure vein has not always two well-marked walls. 34 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANAD^ Frequently one or both are wanting. The alkaline silicate in its upward passage in the fissure often attacked the wall rock, and exchange of molecules occurred. Parts of the rock were dissolved and car- ried off — some of the ore was deposited in its place. In this way the wall disappeared, and the vein was widened in an irregular manner. (/) Bedded veins are parallel with the bedding or foliation of the country rock, while the previous class cut it in all directions. This class of fissures is due to a plane of weakness in the bedding, or to a folding of the beds which has left a cavity. They are not so continuous as true fissures, but one vein usually suc- ceeds another. They vary considerably in thickness, and are often lenticular ; many of them do not appear at the surface. They may be faulted like an ordinary fissure vein ; the gangue and ore are alike in both classes. Gold particularly is found in bedded veins, those of Nova Scotia being good examples. (g) Contact veins are cavities between dissimilar rocks which have been filled with ores through the influence of one of the rocks. Obviously they re- semble bedded veins in appearance, except where one rock is eruptive. An excellent example is afforded by the deposits of Leadville, Col. Igneous dikes have here crossed beds of limestone. Mineral-bearing solutions passing up the line of weakness between the two rocks have dissolved the limestone and replaced it with silver-lead ores. , (h) Gash veins are properly irregular deposits made in the joints, and between the beds, of limestone. The mineral weaLtK of caKada. in lilar the re- one )rded likes In the llaced )0Sit8 jtone. •i^ .f^.'. They are of small oxtent, and do not pjiss vertically to any distance. Water, charged with carbonic acid, has probably dissolved the rock along the joint-plane, and subseiiuently mineral matter has been deposited from solution. The lead and zinc ores occurring in the Trenton limestone of Iowa and Missouri are the best examples. (i) A stockwork consists of a mass of igneous, metamorphic or stratified rock, "impregnated with metalliferous mineral, either in the form of small reticulated veinlets, or more or less uniformly dis- seminated through the rock in connection with the veins." The mass has no definite limits, and merges gradually into the surrounding rock. Typical ex- amples are the tin deposits of Saxony and of Corn- wall. Apparently the rocks containing the tin ore have been shattered, and mineral-bearing solutions rising in the fissures have deposited their burden there or exchanged part of it for a portion of the wall rock. This group of deposits is accordingly related to the true fissure veins. (j) Massive deposits in calcareous rocks seem to be due to the slow replacement of the soluble limestone by the ore of a mineral-bearing solution. Apart from their irregular form they closely resemble gash veins, and should perhaps include them. The deposits are very irregular in size and shape. Many of the silver deposits of Nevada afford good examples of this class. (k) Masses in igneous rocks are either irregular or lenticular in shape, and are found either in the rocks or at the plane of contact between them and an older 36 'fM MINERAL WEAL'rri 6P CA^kbk. } ■■ I rock. They resemble somewhat contact veins, but are not tabular like them. Oxids of iron and sulfids of iron, of copper and of nickel are the chief minerals of this class of deposits. The sulfids have probably been introduced in solution in cavities which were subsequently enlarged by the exchange of the mineral for the rock. A typical example is afforded by the copper and nickel deposits of Sudbury, Ontario. Here the ore is found in lenticular masses, either in diorite or at the contact of the diorite and the Hur- onian schists which it pierces. Immense deposits of magnetite and hematite are found in the Archaean rocks of Ontario and Quebec. They are irregular in shape, and occur in igneous rocks or crystalline limestone. By some authors they are classed here, though others assert that they are metamorphosed sediments and belong to group c. (l) Disseminations in igneous rocks include (1) de- posits resembling the last, but where the metallifer- ous part is so scattered that the whole rock must be removed; (2) deposits where an igneous rock has been impregnated rather than a stratified one, as in d. A typical example is afforded by the native copper deposits of the basin of Lake Superior. Surface Appearance of Ore Deposits. — In most cases ore deposits are very different on the surface to what they are when opened. At a few feet below the surface, the distance varying with the locality, a zone of water, known as the water-line, is met. Above this, air, water and chemical agents may react on the ore, and the usual result is oxidation. Hydrates, carbon- V lost je to the 5one this, lore, m- V \3 tllE MINERAL WteALTH OF CANADA. 87 ates, sulfates and chlorids may also be formed. Many of these are soluble and are carried off by water. These surface accumulations are called gossan. The French name, chapeau de fer, and the German, eiaen hut, both meaning " iron hat," are very expressive. Iron pyrites is a very widely disseminated mineral, and on oxi- dation it yields the hydrated oxid, limonite, reddish to brown in color. In and beneath this layer there is often found a rich deposit of gold, silver or copper, as the case may be. The weathering of the vein has permitted the removal of the gangue and the concen- tration of the heavier metals. From this fact arises the German proverb : '* A mine is ne'er so good as that Which goes beneath an iron hat." Below this again the water-line is reached, and the character of the ore may change entirely. For instance, a gold ore may be free-milling on the surface, and below become most refractory. A case in point is afforded by the gold ores of Hastings, Ontario. Rich and free-milling on the surface, they rapidly became arsenical and rebellious. Lead and zinc may exist as the carbonates on the surface, and pass at the depth of a few feet into the sulfids, galena and blende. Distribution of Ore Deposits. — A consideration of the methods of formation of ore deposits would lead us to expect them where one or more of the fol- lowing conditions are presented : 1. A region of dis- turbance, where fissures may have been made and circulation promot e rocks, especially the earlier ones ; (2) in mountainous regions, particularly those which have been well denuded, as shown by their low rounded forms ; (3) in regions of ancient rocks. Erroneous Ideas Regarding Ore Deposits. — 1. It is often asserted that true fissure veins are likely to increase in width as the shaft is sunk. The truth is that they will widen and narrow alternately, some- times pinching out entirely. If at the present surface a vein is narrow it may widen for a time ; if, on the contrary, it is struck at a wide part it may narrow for a time. A good illustration of this, both as regards changes in the depth and the length of a vein, is a torn paper, with the parts slightly shifted to show the faulting. 2. Fissure veins are said to grow richer as depth increases. Apart from the enriching at the surface due to the decay and removal of the vein matter, this is hardly true. The ore in a vein is always irregularly distributed. In sinking the miner will, of course, pass from poor portions to richer ones and then on to lean ones again. 3. It is often held that certain directions of strike THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 39 jpth [•face this arly [pass lean V 11 in veins indicate rich or poor depoaits. This can only be true of limited regions where the parallel fissures may be supposed to be due to the same cause. Those formed at the one time are likely to have been filled with the same solution. An earlier or later set of fis- sures might have been filled with a different solution containing no metallic ore, or a different one. The strike of veins containing the same ores may be widely different in different localities. 4. The country rock certainly exerts an infi^uence oa the vein material, and preference for a particular kind on the part of the miner is justifiable within limited regions. Nevertheless, a wall rock which is barren in one district may prove to be rich in another. Literature. — "A Treatise on Ore Deposits," Phillips and Louis, 1896. "The Genesis of Ore Deposits," Posepny, Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng. XXIII., 197-369. Newberry, "School of Mines Quart," 1880, V. 337. rike i » CHAPTER III. IRON, MANGANESE A ND CHROMIUM. Ores of Iron. — Among the metals iron is easily of first importance, because so indispensable to all our industrial undertakings. It is widely distributed in nature, occurring as an oxid and as a carbonate. Magnetite (FegO^) is richest in metallic iron, containing 72 per cent, when pure. It can always be attracted by a magnet, and often is itself able to attract soft iron. It is with difficulty scratched by a knife, and yields a black powder. Some varieties contain man- ganese, others titanium. Hematite (FcgOg) contains, when pure, 70 per cent, of iron. Several varieties are distinguished, all of which yield a dark reddish powder. The hard crystalline kind, with a steely lustre, is called specular ore ; a black, shining, scaly ore is known as micaceous hematite. Mixed with clay it yields a brown-black to reddish colored ore of dull lustre. The harder mixtures are clay iron-stones ; the softer are red ochres. Fossil ore consists of red oolitic grains. Part of the iron of hematite is often re- placed by titanium. Brown hematite ore includes a number of minerals, all of which are hydrated oxids» such as limonite (2Fe203 + SHgO), gothite, etc. These minerals yield water when heated, give a brown THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 41 powder and streak, and contain 60 per cent, or less of iron. Iron carbonate, called siderite or spathic iron ore, contains about 48 per cent, of iron. It is brown in color, cleaves readily into rhombohedrons, and effervesces when heated with acids. In coal regions it is frequently found mixed with earthy matter, and is then known as clay iron-stone. Mixed with bitu- minous matter, it forms black band. Clay iron-stone, though containing a smaller amount of iron, is often more valuable than richer ores because of its proximity to coal and fluxes. Ores of iron are so widely distributed and in such large amounts that only those deposits which are favorably located can be utilized. The value of an iron deposit depends on (1) its proximity to fuels and fluxes needed for its reduction ; (2) its freedom from injurious materials not readily removed in smelting ; (3) the percentage of iron which the ore will yield. Anthracite, coke and charcoal are the usual fuels. Limestone is the flux employed to remove the common impurities of clay and quartz. The proximity of these materials in Nova Scotia has caused a develop- ment of the iron industry there, while the rich ores of Ontario are neglected. Other impurities are phos- phorus, sulfur and titanium. A small amount of sulfur causes an iron to be "red-short," that is, brittle and difficult to work at a red heat. One-tenth of one per cent, of phosphorus causes the metal to be "cold- short " or brittle when cold. Ores containing these elements are unsuited for the manufacture of steel. By lining the converter \yith a magnesium or calcium 42 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. mineral it has been found to be possible to use many ores formerly rejected because of their phosphorus. Titanium does not injure the iron, but the presence of any amount in the ore increases the expense of reducing it. Geological Occurrence. — The ores of iron are found particularly in the oldest formations. The Laurentian, Huronian and Cambrian are the great iron ages. The ores in rocks of these periods are hematites and magnetites, especially the latter. Hematites are found in Silurian and Devonian strata in Nova Scotia. Siderite is found in the Palaeozoic of Nova Scotia, and in the form of clay iron-stone throughout the Cretaceous and early Tertiary of the North- West. Limonite is abundant in the Silurian and Devonian of Nova Scotia, and its modern repre- sentative, bog iron 'ore, is found in the Post-Tertiary of Quebec and Ontario. This last has been dissolved by organic acids from the crystalline rocks, and deposited in swamps after oxidation. The beds in the Archaean are doubtless metamorphosed bog ores, though in some cases they may be of an eruptive origin. Canadian Localities. — Maritvme Provinces. — Iron ores occur in large amounts in Nova Scotia. All varieties are represented, and are found in nearly every geological age. Active operations are confined to the counties of Pictou, Annapolis and Colchester. These counties respectively produced 31,000, 30,000 and 18,000 tons of ore in 1895. In Pictou the ores are found along the East River close to the coal field. THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 43 In Devonian strata beds of brown hematite with specular ore and siderite are found. An oolitic hematite resembling the Clinton ore of the United States occurs in Silurian beds. The largest deposits, and the only ones yet worked, are found at the con- tact of the Carboniferous rocks with earlier forma- tions. The ore is mostii^ brown hematite. Two companies are mining and smelting these ores. A char- coal furnace is used at Bridgeville, and Bessemer pig is made with coke at Ferrona. At Torbrook, Annap- olis county, there is a considerable area of hematite ores. The beds are three to twelve feet thick, and the ore is of good quality. It is shipped to London- derry and Ferrona. At the Acadia Mines, Colchester county, there is '* an extensive development of brown hematite in a vein in Devonian strata associated with specular ore, ochre, ankerite and other carbonates of lime, iron and magnesia." This ore, mixed with hematite from Torbrook, is smelted by the London- derry Iron Company. The product is largely sold in Montreal. In Cape Breton there are numerous beds of hema- tite and magnetite in Archaean strata. Specular ore is found in Guysboro' and hematite in Antigonish. Other localities are Pugwash, Grand Lake, Brookfield, Goschen, Selma, Clifton, etc. In Carleton county, N.B., beds of hematite are found in Lower Silurian slates. A charcoal furnace was in blast for some time at Woodstock, and several thousand tons of iron made. Ontario and Quebec. — Boer iron ores were first 44 THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. M discovered in the district of Three Rivers in 1667. The first forges were erected in 1733, and iron has been smelted in the district almost continuously since that date. The Radnor Forges near Three Rivers are the present representative of the old industry. Bog ore is procured on both sides of the St. Lawrence, and charcoal made in the vicinity is used for fuel. The product is particularly adapted for car wheels. At Drummondville, on the St. Francis, are two other furnaces also using bog ore and charcoal. The ore is mined partly in the vicinity and partly in Vaudreuil. Bog ores are quite abundant in the low lands flanking the Laurentian hills on the north of the St. Lawrence. In the Archaean rocks north of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence immense beds of mag- netite and hematite are found. Below Quebec these often contain considerable titanium, but to the west many of them are excellent ores. Beds twenty-five feet wide are of common occurrence. For the most part they are interstratified with gneiss. In the metamorphic rocks of the Eastern Townships other important deposits are found. Except for the occa- sional export of a few tons these oxids are unused. In Ontario similar beds of hematite and magnetite are found in Archaean rocks. Large amounts have been mined at several localities, but no regular opera- tions are going on at present. Most of the ore was exported ; some of it was smelted at furnaces now dis- mantled. The chitjL mining locations are along the Kingston and Pembroke Railway ; in Hastings, Peter- boro' and Victoria counties; north of Lake Huron; THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 46 west of Lake Superior. In lue last district, on the Mattawin and Atikokan rivers, bodies of ore are found which resemble in appearance and iiAOde of occurrence the famous deposits of Minnesota. The ores of Gun- flint Lake are a continuation northwards of the Mesabi range of Minnesota. v. Bog ores are found at a number of places in south- western Ontario. They were smelted early in the century, and are again being mined for a new furnace at Hamilton. This furnace also uses hematite and magnetite from other parts of Ontario. Siderite is re- ported as occurring in large deposits in the Devonian, on Moose River. Western Canada. — Clay iron-stone occurs at a num- ber of places throughout the lignite Tertiary of the North-West, but nowhere in economic amounts. It is also found in the coal series of British Columbia. Magnetite is, however, the chief ore of this province. It has been mined at Kamloops Lake, Redonda Island and Texada Island for export. It is found in many localities and of good quality. The ore bed at Tex- ada is twenty to twenty-five feet thick, and extends for a mile with a thickness of one to ten feet. Production. — Canada is particularly backward in developing her iron industries. Few countries have larger deposits of ore, and much of it is convenient to coal and flux. The smallness of the market is the great difficulty. Moreover, Nova Scotia, the chief producer, is some distance from Ontario, the chief con- sumer. The following tables will give an idea of the industry: •^**L 4« THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. Materials Made and 1894. 1895. Used. . Quantity. Value. Quantity. Value. Pig iron made— tons Iron ore consumed — tons . Fuel r Charcoal— bush con- ■! Coke— tons Bumed. (Coal — tons Flux consumed— tons 60,000 109,000 1,174,000 52,000 8,000 35,000 1647,000 224,000 64,000 142,000 16,000 34,000 52,000 93,000 790,000 49,000 3,000 32,000 .$696,000 218,000 32,000 139,000 5,0:0 30,000 By provinces the production of ore in 1895 was: Nova Scotia 83,792 tons. Quebec 17,783 .. British Columbia 1,222 m Total .102^97 n In 1895 the exports of iron and steel goods amounted to $175,000 and the imports to $8,002,000. There was further imported scrap iron, etc., to the value of $697,000, and against this an export of ore valued at $4,000. Compared with foreign countries the Canadian pro- duction is insignificant. The following table is com- piled from Rothwell's " Mineral Industry " : PRODUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL IN THE WORLD, 1895. Country. United States Great Britain Germany . . . . France Russia Austria Belgium Sweden Spain Canada All others . . . , Pio Iron. 9,597,000 8,022,000 5,789,000 2,006,000 1,454,000 1,075,000 829,000 465,000 206,000 38,000 387,000 29,868,000 Steel. 6,213,000 3,150,000 2,825,000 717,000 574,000 495,000 456,000 230,000 65,000 32'9',66o 15,054,000 Metric tons of 2204 lbs. THE MINERAL WEALTH OF (CANADA. 47 Great Britain and Germany are relying more and more on imported ores. Spain, which ranks fourth as a producer of iron ore, exports considerable to Britain. Sweden also ships ore to that country. LiTEKATURE. — History of manufacture in Canada, Bartlett, Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng. XIV. 608 ; Canadian Mining Manual, 1896. Theories of Origin, Phillips and Louis, " Ore Deposits " ; Winchell, Bull. 6 Minn. Geol. Sur. Statistics, Rep. S Geol. Sur. Can. Localities, Catalogue of the Museum. Nova Scotia : Pictou, Geol. Sur. V. 1890, 176 P ; Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng. XIV. 54; Reports Dep. of Mine^; "Acad. Geol." New Brunswick: Geol. Sur. 1874. Quebec: Geol. Sur. IV. 1888 K. Ontario: Geol. Sur. 1873-74; Bur. of Mines, 1892. British Columbia: Rep. Geol. Sur., III. 1887 R. MANGANESE. The ores of manganese are almost wholly oxids, or hydroxids, though the metal occurs in many other forms. It is similar to iron in its chemical affinities and geological distribution, so that it often occurs with ores of that metal. Pyrolusite (MnOj), the dioxid of man- ganese, is the most important mineral by reason of its purity. Wad, or bog ore manganese, is more widely distributed, but is often useless through the presence of sulfur, phosphorus, etc. Psilomelane, manganite,braun- ite and hausmannite are other manganese minerals. Some silver and some zinc ores contain a considerable amount of manganese, which is saved as a by-product. The great u^s of the metal is in the iron industry. Nine- tenths of the product is converted into spiegel- eisen and ferro-manganese, two alloys with iron con- taining from one to ninety per cent, of manganese. These alloys are invaluable in the manufacture of THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. steel. Not only does the manganese prevent the oxidation of the iron, but a small per cent, increases the strength of the steel. Because of the readiness with which pyrolusite yields oxygen, it is used in the manufacture of chlorin and as a dccolorizer of glass. Compounds of manganese are also used as coloring materials in calico-printing, coloring glass and pottery, and in paints. For these chemical processes only the purest pyrolusite is available, whilst for spiegel-eisen an ore containing iron, water or calcite may be used. Pyrolusite, manganite and wad are widely distrib- uted through the Lower Carboniferous rocks around the Bay of Fundy. The first systematic mining operations were begun at Tenny Cape, N.S., in 1862. Two years later a mine was opened at Markhamville, N.B., which has proved the most productive of the district. The ore occurs as lenticular layers inter- bedded in limestone, or in pockets bearing from a few pounds to four thousand tons. Other localities are Quaco Head, Jordan Mountain, Glebe and Shepody Mountain, N.B., and Cheverie, Walton, Onslow, Loch Lomond, Cape Breton, N.S. Much of the ore is sufficiently pure to be used for chemical purposes, some of it selling at the mines for $125 a ton. The lower grades are used in the iron industry. In Colchester and Pictou counties many of the iron ores are highly manganiferous. A number of deposits of wad occur in Quebec, principally in the Eastern Town- ships. Pyrolusite is found on the Magdalen Islands, Que., and manganite on the north shore of Lake Superior. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are the only producing provinces, and most of their output is THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. 49 exported. In 1895 the production was 125 tons, valued at $8,4()4. In the same year oxid of man- l^anose to the value of $2,800 waH imported. The industry has fallen off enormously since 1890. LiTRRATURE. — PeiiroHo in the annual report, 1890, Vol. I., Arkannas Ouol. 8ur., givim a coniplute account of the origin, occurrence, use, etc., of the nianguncHe (lepositH of America. Geol. Sur. Can., V. 1890 S. DawHon, "Acad. Geol." CHROMIUM. Chromium occurs in nature as the mineral chromite (FeCrgO^ ), isomorphous with magnetite. It is usually massive, finely granular or compact, hard and black. It occurs in serpentine, either in veins or in im- bedded masses. It is rarely reduced to the metallic state, but a small quantity is used in a steel alloy, valuable on account of its [^vmh t hardness combined with toughness. A moio extensive use is in the manufacture of chromatcM of sodium and potassium used in dyeing. Chromite occurs in Quebec in the neighborhood of the asbestos minos. Many pockets have been dis- covered and quarried, but no systematic mining oper- ations have been undertaken. Much of the ore averages 50 per cent, and is worth at the railway $26 a ton. The richer ore is shipped to the United States and a bmall amount to Nova Scotia. The lower grade ores are marketed in Great Britain. The production in 1895 was 3,177 tons, valued at $41,000. Literature.— Geol. Sur. IV. 1888 K. Can. Mining Manual, 1896. CHAPTER IV. NICKEL AND COBALT. Ores of Nickel. — There are a large number of minerals containing nickel, but most of them are not found in any abundance. Those which have been used as ores are a few of the sulfids and a silicate. Millerite (Ni S) contains 64 pei cent, of nickel, and is characterized by its brass-yellow color, greenish-black streak and hair-like crystals. Niccolite is the arsenid of nickel and gersdorffite the sulpharsenid. Pyrrho- tite, (Fe^Sg) is, however, the chief sulfur ore of nickel. In many localities a small percentage (up to 6) of nickel replaces a portion of the iron. The nickel is, indeed, an impurity in the pyrrhotite, and only the large amount in which this mineral is found makes it valuable as a source of nickel. In color pyrrhotite is bronze-yellow to copper-red, and often tarnished on the surface. The streak is dark greyish- black, and the powder magnetic. Genthite is a hydrous, nickel, magnesium silicate found on Michi- picoten Island, Lake Superior, and containing 23 per cent, of nickel. Closely related to it is garnierite, a soft, amorphous, pale-green mineral somewhat indefi- nite in composition but containing eight to thirty-six per cent, of nickel. THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 51 Distribution. — The minerals containing nickel are found all over the world, but in few localities are they sufficiently concentrated to be of value as ores. Pyrrhotite is found from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but the amount of nickel contained is usually small. Pyrrhotites from near St. Stephen, N.B., show 2.5 per cent, of nickel, which is almost as much as the average of the famous Sudbury region. In the last-named district several score of rich de- posits of nickeliferous pyrrhotite have been found in a belt of c !;ntry four or five miles wide and fifty-five miles long. Outlying deposits occur south to the Geor- gian Bay, to the north-west at Straight I^ake, and probably far to the north-east. Deposits of a similar character are worked in Norway. Millerite was noticed by officers of the Geological Survey at the Wallace Mine on the shore of the Georgian Bay as far back as 1848, but it was not until 1883 that the riches of the district were discovered. Silicates of nickel are seldom absent from the mag- nesium rocks of the Eastern Townships, Que., but in no place are they of economic importance. They are reported in paying quantities from Oregon and Nevada, and small amounts have been mined. New Caledonia, a French penal colony, has until recent years been much the largest producer of nickel. The ore, gamierite, is found in veins in serpentine associ- ated with chromic iron and steatite. Millerite has been worked at the Lancaster Gap Mine, Pa., for a number of years, but the mine is no 52 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. longer productive. The same mineral was mined at Brompton Lake, Que., but as the rock mass only con- tained 1 per cent, of nickel the operation was not profitable. Geologfical Occurrence.— All the important de- posits of nickel occur in metamorphic rocks. Gar- nierite, the silicate, is found with serpentine, and the sulfids and arsenids are associated with quartzites, slates and schists. In the Sudbury District the ores are found in masses, not in true fissure veins, in Huronian strata. The ore mass is usually a brecciated mixture of country rock, chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite. Sometimes one, sometimes the other of the last two predominates, but they are too intimately mixed to admit of separation by sorting. Originally the de- posit was worked for copper. The ore mass is usually lens-shaped, not only horizontally but also vertically. Diabase and diorite have been erupted through the Huronian sediments, and the nickel and copper deposits are usually close to the contact. Occasionally the ores are found in granite where diabase has pierced it. The sulfids are often found in the dia- base itself, and the enclosing rock is frequently im- pregnated. This leads to the conclusion that the ores and the diabase have been introduced at tlie same time, possibly at the close of the Huronian. Several companies are energetically engaged in mining and roasting the ores of the Sudbury district. As mined the ore contains one to four per cent of nickel and four to ten per cent, of copper. About THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. 58 nally has dia- im- ores same in brict. t of bout 3 per cent, of nickel seems to be the average, and occasionally one-fiftieth of this is cobalt. After being raised the ore is piled in heaps and roasted, sulfur being given off. It is then smelted to a matte which carries about 20 per cent, of nickel and 20 per cent, of copper. This is shipped to New Jersey or Wales for further treatment, as no refining is done in Canada. Uses. — The metal is used for subsidiary coinage by the United States, Belgium and Germany. A small amount is made into cheap jewelry, principally watch cases. An alloy of nickel, copper and zinc is largely uaed undor the name of German silver. Electro- plating wii . okel is widely used to beautify parts of stoves, bicycles, etc. A far more extensive use than any of these has been found in recent years. Steel, alloyed with a small percentage of nickel, is greatly increased in strength. For armor plate the alloy seems particularly adapted. Where lightness as well as strength is a "asideration, nickel-steel seems destined to replace ordinary steel. The price of nickel is gradually lessening as im- proved processes of refining are invented. In 1873 it was worth $6.00 a pound; in 1890, 65 cents; in 1893, 52 cents ; in 1895, 35 cents. The annual consumption is about four thousand tons, of which Canada furnishes one-half; Norway mines a few hundred tons, and nearly all the remainder comes from New Caledonia. The Canadian production has been as follows : 54 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. YEAR. Pounds of Nickel in Matte. Value at Mine. Final Value. 1893 3,983,000 4,907,000 3,889,000 $630,000 559,000 522,000 $2,071,000 1894 1,871,000 1895 1,361,000 Literature. — Description of the Sudbury Deposits : Bell, ♦•Report F, Geol. Sur. Can.," V., 1890-91; Barlow, *'Rep. S, Geol. Sur. Can.," V., 1890-91, pp. 122-140. Metallurgy: Bureau ri Mines of Ontario Rep. 1892, pp. 149-161. Use in Armor Plate, etc. : Ih. 1893 and 1894. Origin : " Mineral Industry," 1895, p. 746. COBALT. Cobalt occurs in a number of minerals, principally sulfids and arsenids, and usually associated with nickel and iron. Nearly all meteoric iron contains a small amount of the metal. While there are a number of minerals, they are not w^idely distributed and seldom occur in large amount. Most of the cobalt of commerce is a by-product in the refining of nickel. In one mine of the Sudbury district about 0.08 of 1 per cent, of the ore imelted is metallic cobalt. This represents a production of nineteen tons in 1893, and three tons in 1894, worth about $460 a ton. Cobalt is used, chiefly as the oxid, in the manufacture of paints, colored porcelain, etc. >< CHAPTER V. COPPER AND SULFUR.* of Ores of Copper. — Chalcopyrite (Cu Fe S.^), the most common ore of copper, resembles ordinary iron pyrites, but is much softer and of a deeper yellow. It yields, when pure, a little over 34 per cent, of copper. This is the chief copper ore of the Sudbury District. Bomite, also known as variegated copper ore, is an iron copper sulfid like chalcopyrite, but with a percentage of copper which varies from 55 to 60. It is copper- red to brown in color, and the sur- face is always tarnished. Ghalcocite (Cu^ S), called also vitreous copper ore, contains about 80 per cent, of copper. It is blackish lead-grey in color, often tar- nished blue or green, and is comparatively soft. It is found in rich, but small, deposits in the Carbon- iferous rocks of Pictou, N.S. These three ores are said to furnish three-fourths of the world's supply of copper. Native Copper is next in importance, fur- nishing £,bout one sixth. Most of this comes from the south shore of Lake Superior, but the mineral is also found in considerable quantities on the north side. It is found also in the Triassic trap of Nova * " Standard " Dictionary = 56 THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANAD ' f . . Scotia, on the Coppermine River far to the north, and in British Columbia, but so far not in economic amounts. The mineral has a characteristic red color, a bright metallic lustre, and can be cut with a knife. Malachite y the green carbonate of copper, Azurite, the blue carbonate. Cuprite, the red dxid, Ghryaocolla, the bluish-green silicate, are other ores as yet of no economic importance in Canada. Tetrahedrite, also called grey copper, is a complex sulfid of copper, antimony and other metals. It is proving of value as a source of silver in British Columbia, and so incidentally yields copper. Geological Occurrence. — Copper ores are more usually found in the oldest rocks, the Archaean and Cambrian strata being particularly rich. Workable deposits are, however, found as late as the Permian, as at Mansfeld, Germany. The ores are found (1) in veins intersecting, older rocks, as at Bruce Mines, north of Lake Huron ; (2) in mass deposits, as at the immense quarries on the Rio Tinto, Spain; (3) disseminated in beds, as at Mansfeld ; (4) as impregnations in amygdaloids and conglomer- ates, well exemplified in the basin of Lake Superior. Canadian Localities. — MaritiTne Provinces. — The copper ore mined in Canada at present is only inci- dental to the production of sulfur, nickel and th§ precious metals. At a number of places in the Mari- time Provinces development work has been under- taken. Sulfids have been found in Pictou county, N.S., and in St. John and Albert counties, N.B., and in the latter case were worked for a time. In THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 57 jr- Annapolis county the Triassic traps contain strings of native copper which may prove of value. The Coxheath Mine, Cape Breton, if, of greater promise. A number of veins bearing chalcopyrite are there found traversing a mass of felsitic rocks of Laurentian age. Considerable sinking and drifting has been done, and several thousand tons of ore have been raised, large parts of which average 10 per cent, of copper. Smelting works are being erected on Sydney Harbor. About two thousand tons of copper ore are mined annually in Newfoundland. Quebec. — Several score of " mines " and many more " prospects " have been partially explored in south- eastern Quebec. Some of these have proved to be rich deposits, and others might probably have been made paying investments had development work been carried far enough. The deposits occur along three anticlinal axes running north-eastward from the Ver- mont boundary. The ores are the sulfids — chalcopy- rite, chalcocite and bornite. They are found'in veins, in irregular masses and in what seem to be beds, but which are probably in reality of eruptive origin. In nearly all cases they are associated with diorites, apparently of Cambrian age. In the western belt the variegated and vitreous ores are most common, and occur in dolomitic beds belonging to the Upper Cam- brian. The pioneer mine of the district was the Acton, first worked in 1858. From it sixteen thous- and tons of 12 per cent, copper were taken. In the central and eastern belts the ores occur in Pre- Cambrian, micaceous and chloritic schists. The 58 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. Harvey Hill and Huntingdon mines represent the former region, the Capleton group the latter. Many hundred tons were produced by the Harvey Hill and Huntingdon, but they have been closed for several years. In the Capleton district the ore is a mixture of chalcopyrite and pyrite containing thirty-five to forty per cent, of sulfur, and four to five per cent, of copper. It carries in addition from one to seventy- five ounces of silver to thf ton, averaging $4.00 to $5.00 in value. The Eustis mine, typical of the group, is an irregular deposit four to fifty feet wide and explored to a depth of 1,600 feet. Most of the ore is shipped to New Jersey for the manufacture of sul- furic acid. The copper and silver are afterwards refined. Ontario. — Chalcopyrite and native copper are the two important copper ores of Ontario. The former occurs in greatest abundance north of Lake Huron ; the latter around the shores of Lake Superior. The years 1849-1875 constitute the first period of copper mining in Ontario, during which much ore was raised and shipped, but without profit to the sh?^r°!holders. The Bruce and Wellington mines on the north shore of Lake Huron produced nearly forty-five thousand tons of dressed copper ore, worth about $3,500,000. The mines embrace half a dozen veins of quartz in diorite, spread over an area of a square mile. The v«^'iTif ere three to fifteen feet wide, and the work- 11 .arried down about 450 feet. The ore, mainly chalcopyrite, averaged 6| per cent, copper as it came from the shaft. The great expense of mining THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. (9 it the Many ill and leveral fixture five to ent. of venty- kOO to group, ie and 5 ore is of sul- rwards ire the former luron ; . The copper raised olders. shore •usand 0,000. rtz in The work- e ore, tr as it ining and shipping to England, the failure of smelting plants erected at the mines, the decrease in the value of copper, all contributed to make the work unprofi- table at that time. ' Since 1846 a number of companies have made explorations at Michipicoten Island, St. Ignace Island, Maraainse, Point Aux Mines, and other places on the north shore of I^ake Superior. The rocks outcrop- ping at these points are the same as those which in Michigan have proved to be so rich in native copper. According to Irving, the bed of Lake Superior is a geosyncline, the Huronian and overlying Keweenaw- ian rocks extending beneath the waters of the lake in a gentle fold. The Keweenawian formation, or Nipigon, as it is known in Ontario, outcrops as a narrow fringe around part of the shore of the lake, except in the vicinity of Lake Nipigon where a considerable area is found. Through these Nipigon sediments immense masses of volcanic material were erupted, and in the more vesicular outflows and in the associated sandstones native copper is now found. Keweenaw Point on the south shore has proved to be exceptionally rich. One of its mines, the famous Calumet and Hecla, produced, in 1895, one tenth of the whole world product of copper. On the Canadian shore native copper has been found at a number of points, often in rich though small amounts, and always inciting the explorers to develop their proper- ties further. The ore exists as an impregnation of beds of sandstones, conglomerates and vesicular trap. It is also found in veins, associated with calcite. 60 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. fe' cutting these beds. The copper is always irregularly distributed, and considerable quantities of barren rock have often to be removed. Prehnite and epidote are here associated with the copper, as on the south shore. Indeed, the indications are (|uito favorable, but so far no profitable mine has been discovered. A six-hundred -pound mass of native copper, taken from a shaft at Mamainse, is probably the largest yet found. At Michipicoten a shaft has been sunk over five hundred feet in an amygdaloidal bed, and 1,500 feet of drifting done. The copper carries a little native silver in many places, and malachite, cuprite, chalcopyrite are often found with it. In 1882 large deposits of chalcopyrite were dis- covered near Sudbury, Ont. The ore is " a brecciated or agglomerated mixture of the pyrrhotite and chal- copyrite along with the country rock." This mixed ore is usually in or near masses of diorite, intrusive through Huronian or Laurentian rocks. It occurs in lenses which thicken and thin out vertically as well as laterally. At first the ore was mined for copper, but nickel, which is found in the pyrrhotite, is now the more valuable constituent. (See Nickel.) The average output of the three mines of the Canadian Copper Company is 4.3 per cent, of copper, and 3.5 per cent, of nickel. The ores are roasted in heaps in the open air to drive off sulfur, then smelted to a natte containing eighteen to twenty per cent, each of copper and nickel. This matte is shipped to New Jersey or to Wales for further treat- ment. The quantity of ore in the district seems THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 61 inexhaustible, and the copper and nickel mines are now firmly established. In 1895 eighty-six thousand tons of ore were smelted at Sudbury. British Columbia. — Ores of copper are widely distributed throughout the whole area of the Pacific Province. Several attempts have been made to develop them, but so far unsuccessfully. Many of the most promising gold and silver ores contain large amounts of copper, and the recently developed mines in West Kootenay are yielding a very large amount of copper in addition to the gold and silver for which they are worked. Uses. — Next to silver, copper is the best conductor of electricity, and so is used in telephone trunk lines, trolley wires, etc. Its great toughness makes it valuable for boilers, F^tills, sheeting wooden ships, etc. It is a component of brass, bronze and other alloys used for machinery, cannon, bells, coins and statuary. A number of its salts, as blue vitriol and Paris green, find extensive use in the arts. Production. — No copper is at present' refined in Canada, all the ore mined being exported either as raw ore carrying about 4 per cent, of copper or as a matte carrying fifteen or twenty per cent. In 1894 the final value of the copper in the ore produced was $736,000, of which Quebec contributed $207,000; Ontario, $495,000 ; British Columbia, $34,000. In 1895 the total value was $949,000, the increase being due to the copper-gold mines of British Columbia. In 1896 the output of this province was doubled, and the total for the year is a little o ivev a million. THe 6S^ THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. imports of pig and scrap copper in 1895 were valued at $7,000, and of manufactures at $252,000. The annual production of copper in the world is steadily increasing, the increase being just about equal to that made by the Ur.ited States. The following table is compiled from Roth well's " Mineral Industry": PRODUCTION OF COPPER, 1895. Metric Tons, o( 2,204 Iba. Australasia 10,000 Canada 3,987 Cape of Good Hope 30,000 Germany 17,000 Japan 19,000 Mexico 12,000 Russia 5,000 Spain and Portugal 56,000 United States 175,000 ' All others 12,000 Total 340,000 Literature. — Localities and History of Operations, — Mari- time Provinces : Dawson's "Acadian Geology." Quebec: Geol. Sur. Reports, 1863 ; III. 1887 K ; IV. 1888-89 K ; Obalski, "Mines and Minerals of Que.," 1890. Ontario; Liike Superior —"Geol. Can.," 1863 ; Geol. Sur. III. 1887, 9-12 H; "Min. Re- sources of Ont.," 1890 ; Rep. Bur. of Mines, Ont., 1893 ; Bruce Mines, etc.— "Min. Res. Ont.," 1890; Sudbury— Geol. Sur. Rep., V. 1890 F. (See also references under Nickel. ) British Columbia: Rep. Geol. Sur. IIL, 1887, 101 R, 162 R; VII. 1894, 52 S. Production. — Reports of the Geol. Sur. of each year. Irving, "The Copper- bearing Rocks of Lake Superior." Peters, " Modem American Methods of Copper Smelting. " ^1 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 68 SULFUR. Sulfur, from a chemical standpoint, is an acidic element, and so in strictness should not be classed here under the metals. As, however, it is mined in Canada as a constituent of copper ores, this is a con- venient place for considering it. Sulfur is found native at only a few places in Canada, and never in economic quantities. It does exist, however, in immense quantities as sulHds of a number of metals. Pyrite '(Fe Sg), the sulfid of iron, contains 58 per cent, of sulfur. It is a brassy-looking mineral, hard enough to strike fire with a piece of steel, and is frequently found in cubic crystals. It occurs in rocks of all ages, and as it oxidizes readily it frequently causes undesirable stains on building stones. Chalcopyrite (Cu Fe Sg) is a similar mineral, but softer and yellower. It contains 35 per cent, each of copper and sulfur. These two minerals are largely used as sources of sulfur for sulfuric acid. Other sulfids occurring in large quantities in Canada are galena (PbS), :!• ) sul- fid of lead; blende (ZnS), the sulfid of zinc; pyrrhotite (Fe^Sg), another sulfid of iron. Uses. — Sulfur is required for manufacturing gun- powder, matches and vulcanized rubber; for bleaching straw and woollen goods ; for cementing iron and stone ; for making sulfuric acid. This last is one of the most important compounds known to chemistry and commerce. It is said that a nation's civilization may be gauged by the amount of sulfuric acid it consumes. I 64 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. t Although native sulfur is required for most purposes, pyrite answers equally as well as the element in making sulfuric acid. The pyrites, iron and copper, are consequently slowly driving the native element from the acid factories by reason of their cheapness. Especially is this true of ores like those of Capleton, Quebec, w/ ih are valuable for their copper and silver contents, and from which the sulfur must be separated anyway. The pyrites are burned to form sulfur dioxid gas, and the residues are treated with acids to obCiain the copper, silver or gold. Thoroughly burned pyrite retains about 1 per cent, of sulfur, and iron contain- ing not more than that can now be used for some purposes. Pyrites suitable for sulfuric acid should have the following characteristics: (1) A high per cent, of sulfur, 35 to 53; (2) freedom from arsenic, antimony and lead; (3) readiness in yielding the sulfur ; a granular and porous pyrite is easier to work than a compact one ; absence of fluxes is desirable ; (4) valuable accessory metals, as silver, copper, gold, are a great advantage. Production. — The Capleton and Eustis mines in southern Quebec are the only Canadian producers which use the sulfur in their ores. A part is made into sulfuric acid at the works ; a much larger por- tion is shipped to the United States. A third portion is smelted at the mines, the sulfur being wasted and the matte exported. These mines are described under Copper, earlier in this chapter. Other sulfuric acid factories at Brockville and at Smith's Falls, '''^'-.K THfi MINERAL WEALTH OP OAKADA. 6d Ontario, have also used pyrites. Immense quantities of sulfur are wasted at Sudbury. Nearly five million pounds of sulfuric acid are used annually in refinipg Canadian petroleum. 1890. 1896. ■,'■ . Production of ^Tons 49,000 .34,000 Pyrites. . . . J Value. . . . ^123,000 $103,000 Imports crude\Ton8 2,220 2.460 Sulfur /Value.... 044,000 867,000 Literature. — *'Min. Resources of Ont.," 1890. Rep. Geol. Sur., 1874, p. 304 ; ib. IV., 1888, 63 K, 158 K ; ib. VIII., 1896, S. * CHAPTER VI. i QOLD AKD PLATINUM. GOLD. In the first half of the present century Russia held first place as a gold producer. In 1848 came the discoveries in Califorriia, which soon sent the United States to the top. Three years later rich deposits were announced in Victoria. In a few years Australia climbed to the foremost position, and the place of honor has alternated between that island and the United States until recently. The South Afr'can field, discovered in 1884, has been developed with surprising rapidity. In 1895 the Transvaal succeeded in passing Australia, and if the rate of advance is continued it will soon surpass the United States. In 1896 announcements were made of rich discov- eries, which it is hoped will make Canada a worthy rival of California, Victc ia and the Transvaal. In 1896 Canada was twelfth among nations in the value of her gold output, and it is quite probable that she may reach fifth, or sixth, place within a few years. Mexico, which at present ranks fifth, is in- creasing her gold output very rapidly. On the same Cordilleran range as British Columbia, with enormous deposits of silver already exploited, Mexico may THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. m prove as rich in gold as Canada. It will be some years before either country reaches the fourth place now held by Russia. Origin. — All substances can be resolved into one or more of the seventy primary elements. These elements, of which gold is one, cannot be changed into one another, though they combine in various proportions to form different substances. So far as we know they have existed from the creation. On the cooling of the molten earth most of them assumed a solid condition, either alone or in combination Gold seems to have remained free, and pretty thoroughly dis- tributed through the crystalline rocks. It is found now in nearly all rocks, and in sea water, but in such minute quantities that it cannot be economically recovered. Nature, however, at once set about concentrating it for man's use when he should appear in later ages. Running water was the agent employed. The ancient rocks were slowly disintegrated and the minerals floated off. Gold, which is seven times heavier than quartz, was carried down the turbulent mountain streams, to be deposited with the coarser sands and gra^' ' i at the first eddy or level stretch of water, whilst the lighter minerals and finest particles were carried on. Many of these river sediments, perhaps reassorted by lake or ocean action, have been consoli- dated by pressure to form sandstones and conglom- erates. Finer particles of gold were even carried to the sea, so that marine sediments also contain disseminated srold, though in exceedinerly minute fHE MtNEtlAL WfeAt'Tfi 0^ CANADA. amounts. Subjected to pressure and heat these sedi- ments became the metamorphic rocks — slates and schiats. Meanwhile, in another way, concentration was being effected. Fissures were made in the metamorphic, and also in the igneous rocks. Hot solutions of quartz, carrying iron and copper sulfids, leached the gold^ from the underlying and adjacent rocks and placed it in the vein where the quartz and pyrites solidified around it. These quartz veins have also been subjected to denuding agencies, and they probably have fur- nished most of the gold found in modern river gravels. In still a third way has concentration been brought about. In many copper and silver mines gold is an accessory mineral. These deposits are sometimes of an eruptive origin, i.e., the mineral matter has come from below in a fluid condition. Occurrence. — Gold nearly always occurs as the native element; its natural compounds are mineral curiosities. It alloys readily with silver, and is nearly always found with a small percentage of that metal. Quebec gold contains about 12 per cent, of silver; that of Nova Scotia is nearly pure. When in visible particles, gold is easily recognized by its yellow color, malleability, and by the ease with which it may be cut with a knife. Iron and copper pyrites, the former known as "fool's gold," are the only minerals which resemble it. Both are much harder, both crumble under a hammer, both yield fumes of sulfur when heated with a blowpipe, and both lack the peculiar lustre of gold. TB£ MIl^ERAL W£al¥U 01* CAl^ADA. 69 Dependent on the mode of origin, four classes of gold deposits may be noticed : 1. Placers, in which auriferous gravels of the Tertiary and Quaternary ages are worked. The gold is free, and may be separated easily from the sand by means of mercury. These placers have been, and probably still are, the most important source of gold. Their place is, however, slowly being taken by the next class. 2. The second class of deposits are the auriferous quartz veins. They are widely distributed in all kinds of metamorphic rocks of all geological ages. They are more expensive to work than the first, since the ore must be mined and cnished before being amalgamated. Two subdivisions should be noted: (a) That in which the gold is free in a quartz contain- ing little or no sulfids ; (6) That in which a con- siderable part of the gold is in sulfids of iron, copper, lead or zinc in the quartz. This class, especially division a, is represented by the ores of Nova Scotia and western Ontario. 3. The ancient gravel deposits, as illustrate^l by the auriferous sandstor.e of Cambrian age, in the Black Hilis, Dakota. The Carboniferous conglomer- ates of Australia, and also of Nova Scotia, are other examples. 4. The occurrence of gold in eruptive deposits makes a fourth class. The ores of the Eossland (B.C.) region are an example. Methods of MilUng. — The methods of separating a metal from its ore hardly find a place in a ! »! :«■ 70 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. this kind. A brief explanation may, however, be given for gold, and details can be sought in a work on metallurgy. Free gold is easilv, separated from its gangue. In placer mining an inclined trougli is arranged near the supply of gravel. Across the bottom are placed cleats, and over fchem a H^raam of sand, water and gold is caused to tlovv. These cross- pieces in the. bottom of the sluice check the currontj and so t< nd l.> hold the hea/y gold which is sliding along the bott >iu. Biihind these cleats or riffles mercury is placed, litis e'; naonfc has a great affinity for gold, and greedily ^^rawph and dissolves any particle being v/atrick." In quarts^ mining the first step is the crushing of the ore in a stamp mill. Iron weights or stamps of eight huudro.d pounds are dropped about eight inches, about eighty times a minute, on pieces of quartz. Water carries off through a sieve the fine pulp, which then flows over an inclined copper table covered with mercury. At Intervals the amalgam is scraped off and retorted as previously described. Any ^"old held in the sulfids is not attacked by the mercury, and so passes over into the tailings and is lost. To prevent this, a mechanical separation of the heavy sulfids and light quartz is effected. A machinv- known as a vanier is la ; !y used. A wide >' constantly moves upward over an inclined t/iiil-. THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. 71 The stream of pulp is directed on this belt which carries up the heavy sulfids containing the gold, while the water carries downv/ards the light quartz. In this way the "concentrates" are saved for further treatment. These concentrates, and in many mines the whole ore, must be treated chemically to obtain the gold. First they are roasted, or calcined, to free them from sulfur. Then they are treated with chlorin, potassium cyanid, or bromo-cyanogen to dissolve the gold, which is afterwards precipitated. Canadian Localities. — Nova Scotia — Along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia there is an extensive development of Cambrian strata. The rocks, which are quartzites, sandstones and slates, are about twelve thousand feet thick, of which the lower three-fourths are most auriferous. At many localities igneous rocks have been erupted, and apparently at the same time quartz veins were formed. The sedimentary strata were thrown into folds with their axes running eatii; and west. Along the denuded crests of these folds quartz veins are found which resemble bedded deposits. '1 h ^se veins are for the most part narrow, most of those worked being less than a foot in width. They extend from a few hundred feet to several miles in length. The area through which they are found is pr bahly six thousand to seven thousand square miV' j, chough actual operations are restricted to a mi ;n smaller area. The ore i3 almost entirely free milling, and has averaged 5^13.70 a ton for the province for thirty years. The Gold River and Eenfrew districts have the richest ores at present. 72 Tfifi MlNfittAL WfiALTH OF CANADA. The Stormont and Caribou districts, working on low grade ores, yield the largest returns. The total production to the end of 1894 was $11,000,000. The Sherbrooke and Waverly districts have been the chief producers. Nova Scotia seems destined to yield a small but steady supply of gold. The in- dustry is being extended to the low grade ores which exist in much wider veins, and which are being mined and milled for $2.50 a ton, leaving all over that for profit. This is small in comparison with Bossland, B.C., where $15 ore is the least that will pay at present. Quebec. — Gold was accidentally discovered in the Gilbert Creek, a tributary of the Chaudifere, about 1823. For many years it was neglected, and the min- ing operations even of the last fifty years have been very desultory. The gold is found in gravels which constitute the beds of preglacial streams. The Gilbert, Des Plantes, DuMoulin, DuLoup tributaries of the Chaudifere in Beauce county have been the chief pro- ducers. Ditton Creek has also proved to be rich. The gravels which lie on bed rock are always richer than those above a bed of clay. Many of these early gravels are one hundred feet below the level of the present streams. They are covered by boulder clay, a product of the glacial age. The gravels are always richer when near veins of quartz which intersect the Cambrian rocks of the district. These rocks, which are slates and sandstones, closely resemble the corre- sponding gold-bearing strata of the same age which occur in Nova Scotia. Workable quartz veins have not yet been discovered. The gold is all derived from THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 73 the placers, much of it in a primitive way. Moderti hydraulic methods are being applied, and the output, which has been small and uncertain, will doubtless bo increased. Ontario. — Rich deposits of free gold were discovered in Hastings county in 1866. Prospectors flocked in and located hundreds of properties. Many companies were formed and development work begun. The first returns were very encouraging, but at a slight depth the ore changed from a free-milling quartz to a refrac- tory arsenical pyrites. With the methods in use the gold passed over into the tailings and was lost. No successful means of separating the gold could be found, and one after another the mines were closed. Within the last few years renewed attempts have been made with more modem processes, with the probability of final success. Besides these rich arsenical ores free-milling quartz veins have been worked not only in Hastings, but in Peterboro' and in Addington. The Hastings district will likely become a small but steady producer. The veins occur in Upper Laurentian or Huronian strata. In the strip of Huronian rocks stretching north- eastward from Lake Huron to Sudbury, and on to the Ottawa River, a number of promising gold dis- coveries have been made. For the most part the ore is a free-milling quartz with a little pyrite, occurring in bedded deposits. Two stamp mills have been erected, but t' ' atput is irregular as yet. From Lake (Superior west to Manitoba prospecting has been carried on vigorously since the opening of /■v*j>^ ■ ijiMr' H THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. the railway. Many hundred " '•osp'^cts" have been located and considerable dr , '3!or»:u»^ it dene. About a dozen mines are equipped with stamp mills, several of which have passed the experimental stage and are working continuously. The ore is a free-milling quartz, containing about 2 per cent, cr l..»ii*u>\ In mill tests the ores give from six to thirty dollars in free gold, and about one-fifth more in the concentrates. The veins, which t,re both bedded and fissure, occur usually in Keewr.fcin (Huronian?) schists, but also in the Laurentian granite near the contact of the two. The Sultana, the best developed mine in the district, is right at the contact of the Keewatin and Laurentian. The shaft is over 350 feet in depth, and the vein has a width, on the third level, of upwards of 30 feet. British Columbia. — After gleaning the surface riches of California the gold hunters drifted north- wards. In 1857 came the first authentic news of rich finds on the Fraser. The next sprmji' 20,000 people reached Victoria within four months. The difficulties of penetrating the interior were, howevi , so great that the majority turned back. A few thousand people pushed up the Fraser and rvere richly reward< d. Their methods were crude in the extreme, and only the richest bars proved profitable. Ycl by year they pushed farther up the main eair and its tributaries, carrying with them all thu necc saries of life. In 1860 they reached the Cariboo district, one of the besw placer mining camps ever found. The following year came the discovery of Williams and Lightning creeks, on which were found the richest THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 75 'ar placers yet discovered in British Columbia. In two years it is said $2,000,000 wore p^ot out by 1,600 men. The richness of "Golden Cariboo" caused a large immigration from all parts of the world for the next few years. A party started overland from eastern Canada, and after many misfortunes most of them reached their destination. Placers were next found on the Kootenay and Columbia. Northward from Cariboo the prospector forced his way into the Omenica district. A few ytars later the advance guard reached the Cassiar district on the northern boundary of the province. In 1880 the tide, in a restricted flow, had reached the head-waters of the Yukon in the North-West Territories. These earl" pioneers skimmed but the surface of tht jars, i.e., the portions of the river bed uncovered at lo' water, and of the terraces on the banks. Succeeding miners sought the equally rich deposits more difRcu I f access. For instance, Lightning Creek was filled with glacial deposits to a depth of 50 to 150 feet. As the modem stream bed was rich there was a probability of the preglacial l)ed being the same. Shafts were sunk and tunnels run, and the old channel cleared out for a distance of three miles. Again, auriferous gravels on the banks of streams are now mined by hydraulic metho nay district, but many other promising localities are known. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 IA£|21 12.5 ■so ■^™ ImH ■u ^ |2.2 £ |i£ 12.0 H: 1 m 1.25 1.4 |||||iA ^ 6" ► vl V2 ^^. v Photographic Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14S80 (716) S72-4503 > "*.--", •'/; '"• ^ ■ '- : V't-,, 5 '■'■^& \ ■■{■■■"■■ ^!-' :'■■';'; / .<;;"■ .,.:, ', ' ■■■''-"* -'. . • "^:^/' ■;./■■ "v." -'^ -■.'?*■-.'■■■ ■ ■■' ■■--■ ■•:'. ■ . : .. " ;.^{;--; . .*:■. '-;:,:;''-;':; ''.. H.''- ■■''i'-?^'-, ''■■■'■■^ :- .'"~ ' , '-. . -: ' > ' -^v ".. "'". , ^ ' !;. '.'li "' " '-'■'' ■■'''■ ', : '<■-■".■ ■.;. -;;■■■ :-;.'y'"^' ' 1' , ■■■■'■-•:' ''^f''' • - ■ ■ '.-'" '^ ' "■'■■' '^-\. ": -■^ "■' ,r- ■ - . ■ ■ ''-'' ^'"■■■■5 I ** ^■■'. ■' ' Sg' #^ ^'';;:f : .f " -.■^ ■*^' - -.." - .■ •■ .;.'•"■ . '-' "'-■' V f '■ " - ^:i' ■ -" ^'*^'-^^-*•ri:- \\ ■%?^' 90 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. PRODUCTION AND IMPORTS. ■ i > isgp. 1894. 1S95. 1896. Pounds of ore > Value Imports unmanufactared . . Imports manufactured 113,000 15,800 343,000 26,000 5,703,000 $185,000 170,000 29,000 23,076,000 $750,000 156,000 38,000 24,200,000 $721,000 t • ■ t • • Literature. — (See '~ if.ioa aaa d-arA Siitv T1 under Silver. ) For British Columbia local- T lAfiT.Sa IRRT) T.aL-o TomianaminfTiio. Geol. Sur. V. icDd-91, 90 S. M ZINC. The most common zinc mineral is popularly knov^rn as blende or black jack, though mineralogirits call it sphalerite. The first and last names refer to its Wind- ing and deceiving or treacherous character, because, while at times resembling galena, it yields no lead, and because it occurs in all "ohe colors of the rainbow. It has a peculiar resinous lustre, is scratched without difficulty with a knife, and is infusible before a blow- pipe. In composition it is zinc sulfid, and when pure it contains 67 per cent, of zinc. The carbonate, smith- sonite, results from the weathering of the sulfid, and is dirty white or brownish. Calamine, a silicate, is another zinc mineral often mined. The ores of zinc closely resemble those of lead in their mode of occurrence and in their geological horizons, and often the two are intimately mixed. Blende, like galena, often carries silver, but it is more THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 91 difficult to part the silver and zinc than the silver and lead. Argentiferous blende occurs in the Thunder Bay district of Ontario and in the Koot^nay district of British Columbia, but there is no production. A deposit of blende in Huronian diorite, north of Lake Superior, was exploited for a time, but operations have ceased. Kansas, Wisconsin, Missouri and New Jersey are the zinc-producing regions of this conti- nent. Two-thirds of the ore of the world is mined in Germany ; Italy is the second producer, followed by the United States and France. All of the Italian ore is exported, and Belgium, using imported ores, ranks second as a producer of metallic zinc, Ger- many having the first position. The total production of the world for 1894 was 383,225 metric tons, of which Canada took $130,000 worth, mostly manu- factured. CHAPTER VIII. ARSENIC, ANTIMONY, TIN, ALUMINUM AND MERCURY. Arsenic — This element is little used in the metallic state, and then only as an alloy, the chief of which is with lead. Shot is hardened by the mixture of about forty pounds of arsenic with a ton of lead. Its most important use is in the manufacture of colors, particu- larly greens. Paris green is a commercial name for several chemical compounds used as colors, and also as insecticides. A small amount of the metal is used in making certain kinds of glass and in fireworks. Arsenic is widely distributed in nature, occurring usually as a double sulfid and arsenid of iron, nickel or copper. Mispickel, or arsenopyrite (FeAsS) the chief mineral, is hard, brittle, silver- white, and gives a garlic odor when heated. Considerable deposits of it occur in Hastings county, Ontario, where it has been mined for the gold it contains. The output is, however, very irregular, in 1885 the product being valued at over $17,000, and in 1895 at nothing. Commercial arsenic has sold for some years at about four cents a pound, but in 1895 the price advanced to nine cents, and even at that figure it does not pay to produce the metal, except as a by-product. Cornwall THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 93 and Devon, England, and Freiberg, Germany, supply the market with 7,000 to 9,000 tons a year. Canada imported in 1895 nearly 600 tons, valued at $32,000. Antimony. — This metal frequently occurs as a min- eralizing agent with ores of silver. The chief source is, however, the sulfid stibnite (SbgSg), a soft lead-grey easily fusible mineral. It is recognized by the white fumes and odor of burning sulfur which it gives when heated with a blowpipe. Stibnite has beon mined at Rawdon, in Hants county, N.S., where in a gangue of quartz and calcite it occurs in a vein cutting Cambrian slates. The ore is of good quality, and in places is auriferous. At Prince William, York county, N.B., there are numer- ous large well-defined veins carrying quartz and stib- nite in Cambro-Silui'ian plates. Several mining com- panies have operated there, reducing the ore in part and shipping the remainder to Massachusetts, where it was used in the manufacture of rubber. Ores of antimony have also been mined in South Ham, Wolfe county, Que. None of these properties are now in operation, litigation and the continually decreasing value of the product having forced them to close. Antimony, which was worth fifteen cents a pound in 1891, was quoted at seven cents in 1895. Antimony ores, probably in economic amounts, are reported from several localities in Ontario and British Columbia. In the latter province they are frequently argentiferous. France is the largest producer of antimony, and Italy, Japan and New South Wales contend for second place. In 1893 the total production of ore was 7 94 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. I 15,000 tons, which would yield about 6,000 tons of antimony. In 1885 the Canadian product was 758 tons ; in 1895 it was nothing. The imports in 1895 were forty tons, valued at $6,000. The great use of antimony is as an alloy with lead in making type metal. Tin. — This is th.e only important metal of which no economic deposits occur in Canada, for, apart from a few mineralogical curiosities, it is unknown here. North America as a continent seems almost destitute of it, for in spite of very heavy protective duties the Americans have failed to develop any suc- cessful mines, though small amounts have been got in Dakota, California and Mexico. The oxid of tin, cassiterite, is the only ore. The mineral is brown to black in color, of brilliant lustre when in crystals, hard and heavy. It is infusible before the blowpipe on charcoal, but with soda can be reduced to minute malleable beads of tin. Tin ore occurs in two ways: First and most important is the " stream tin," which is simply a placer deposit like that of gold, and due to the same cause, i.e., to the weight of the mineral. These placer deposits are widely scattered over the world, but are comparatively rare. They are derived, of course, from veins which constitute the second class of deposits. Here the ore is disseminated in bunches and grains in the veins and in the ancient crystalline rocks, which they cut. Cornwall, England, is the most famous tin region of the world, though the original placers are exhausted and the veins themselves jire not so productive ag w THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 95 The ustre isible JO. be In ore int is like the are ively hich e ore .8 and cut. .on of usted ve ag i' formerly. The ore is frequently found in a peculiar granite rock called greisen, which lacks felspar. Pyrite, chalcopyrite, blende, tourmaline, wolfram, topaz are often associated with the tin ore. Consider- ing the immense granite areas in Canada, it would seem probable that tin will yet be discovered here. The great use of tin is as a coating for iron in the manufacture of tin-plate. Small amounts are used in alloys, such as bronze, bell-metal and solder. In 1895 the production was about 80,000 long tons, of which 63,000 came from the Malay peninsula, and England, Tasmania and Bolivia produced nearly all the remain- der. In 1895 the average price was fourteen cents a pound. Canadian imports average over one million dollars a year. Aluminum is the most abundant metal in the earth's crust, and the third element in amount. It is found in hundreds of minerals, chiefly complex silicates like garnet, felspar and mica. Ordinary clay is a hydrous silicate of aluminum which, when pure, contains 21 per cent, of the metal. Notwithstanding the great number of minerals and their wide distribution, the ores of aluminum are very few. In most cases the chemical combination is too strong for profitable separation with our present methods. Corundum, the oxid, might be used, but it is too valuable as an abrasive to be employed as a source of the metal. Cryolite, a sodium aluminum fluorid, was until recently the chief source, the mineral being brought from Greenland. Bauxite, the mineral used at the present time, is a hydrated oxid of aluminum with 96 THB MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. iron replacing part of that metal. Silica, phosphoric acid, lime, and magnesia, are common impurities. In composition and mode of occurrence it resembles limonite. The mineral is white, yellow or red, soft and granular. It occurs in large amounts in France, Italy, Ireland, Georgia and Alabama, but is not yet known in Canada. Bauxite is treated chemically and changed into the oxid of the metal (AlgOg), and this is reduced by a powerful electric current in a bath of molten cryolite. Only two companies are at present producers. One has works at Niagara Falls and Pittsburg, the other in Switzerland and France. The product in 1895 was nearly 1,300 tons, valued at 50 cents a pound. The demand for this metal will increase enormously once it can be marketed as cheaply as copper or zinc. In 1886 the price was $12.00 ; in 1892 it had fallen to 50 cents, and that seems to be the limit for the present. Mercury. — The only ore of mercury is cinnabar, the sulfid (HgS), which contains when pure, about 87 per cent, of the metal. The mineral is bright red or brownish-red in color, is of high specific gravity, and is easily vaporized before the blowpipe. Often specks of the bright metal are scattered through the red mineral. It is found as an impregnation of various rocks which have been shattered and fissured by eruptive rocks, which are always found near at hand. There are three important regions: Spain, where the cinnabar impregnates a sandstone of Silurian age ; California, where the deposits are of Cretaceous and Tertiary age, and Austria, where the ore occurs in THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 97 nearly vertical strata of Triassic age. The mineral seems to be the result of volcanic action, which has vaporized mercury, sulfur and steam at some distance below the lurface. These vapors have then forced their way up through the shattered superincumbent rocks, and on cooling the mercury and sulfur have been united and deposited. Around Kamloops Lake, British Columbia, a num- ber of veins have been found in volcanic rocks of Tertiary age. Exploratory work has yielded good results, and a continuous output is promised. The great use of mercury is in the recovery of gold and silver by the amalgamation process. As, how- ever, the quicksilver can be used over and over, the market does not increase rapidly. Another important use is in the manufacture of vermilion paint. Small amounts are used in making mirrors, thermometers, barometers and medicinal compounds. The output in 1894 was 3,952 metric tons, of which twc Ifths came from Spain and one-quarter from the United States, the remainder being furnished by Austria, Italy, Mexico and Russia. LrrEBATUBE. — Arsenic: Both well, "Mineral Industry," 1895 ; Min. Resources of Ontario, 1890 ; Bur. Mines, Ontario, 1893. Antimony : " Mineral Industry," 1895. Tin : " Min. Indus.," 1895; Louis and Phillips, "Ore Deposits." Alumi- num: Richards, "Aluminum," 1890; "Min. Industry," 1892. Mercury : " Min. Industry," 1895 • Rep. Min. Mines, B.C., 1896. i .. '^ SECTION II. MINERALS YIELDING NON- METALLIC PRODUCTS. CHAPTER IX. SALT, OYPSUM AND BARITE. * • SALT. Occurrence. — Common salt, so important to the welfare of the human race, is widely distributed, few countries being unable to supply themselves in case of need. Not only is the geographical distribution of large extent, but the geological horizons in which it is found are very numerous. Upper Silurian beds are found in Ontario and New York ; Devonian ones in Manitoba and Athabasca; Lower Carboniferous salt springs are found in Cape Breton and New Brunswick, and beds of the sar le period in Michigan furnish much of the salt of the United States; Permian beds are found in Texas, and the famous deposit of Stassfurt, Germany, was laid down in the same period ; in the Triassic beds are found the deposits of Kansas and Cheshire, England, and some salt springs on Vancouver Island come from the Cre- taceous just above ; in Tertiary times were deposited THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. ^ the great salt beds at Wieliczka, Austria, and some smaller ones in Louisiana. Even in historic times deposits have been formed in the arid regions of the west of North America. Salt, known to mineralogists as halite, occurs in nature either in solid masses, known as rock salt, or in solution in water The solutions, or brines, are found (1) in oceans or salt lakes, (2) in salt springs, (3) in porous rocks, held in by impervious beds above and below. On drilling a hole through the upper retaining bed the third class may- become the second. Neither the rock salt nor the brines are pure as they occur in nature. The most common impurities are the sulfates of calcium, magnesium and sodium, the chlorids of calcium, magnesium and potassium, and the carbonates of calcium, magnesium and iron ; clay, also, is found quite frequently in rock salt. The amount of the impurities is variable, but usually in salts of commercial value it is quite small. The fol- lowing analyses show the composition of two standard natural salts : Goderich, Ont. Cheshire, Eng. Sodium chlorid, or salt 99. 687 96. 70 Calcium chlorid 032 .68 Magnesium chlorid 095 .... Calcium sulfate 090 .26 Insoluble in water 017 1.74 Moisture 079 .63 100.000 100.00 Total impurity 234 2.67 10 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. Origfin. — The sea has probably been salty since the time when the cooling earth first allowed the clouds of vapor to condense upon its surface. The hot, primeval ocean, under greater pressure than now, must have been a powerful solvent. No doubt its saltiness has been increased since then by the incessant and large contributions of every stream. Running water, as it percolates through our soils, dissolves out here and there grains of salt and gypsum and limestone, and hurries off with them to the ocean. The St. Lawrence, as it leaves Lake Ontario, carries one and a half tons of mineral matter every second to be deposited in the ocean and make it saltier. About 3.5 per cent, of ocean water consists of solids, of which common salt makes 2.7 per cent. ; other constituents are magne- sium chlorid, 0.4 per cent. ; magnesium sulfate, 0.2 per cent., and twenty-three other elements. Through changes of level and other causes, oceanic waters have been at times confined in lagoons, where, as evaporation went on, the calcium sulfate was first deposited as gypsum, and later, with greater con- centration, the sodium chlorid was precipitated. Mixed with these were frequently marls and clays derived from erosion of the neighboring land. Last of all came the deposition of the potassium and magnesium salts as shown by the beds of Stassfurt, Germany. In many cases, however, the sea seems to have overleaped the boundary at intervals and fur- nished fresh solutions for second and third deposits. Only in a few cases have the more soluble salts of TfiE MmERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. 101 potassium and magnesium been deposited as at Stass- furt. The following section at Ooderich, Ontario, shows six distinct beds of salt with intervening beds of marine-formed dolomites and marls : Befinnitiff at the Surfaet. Feet. Clay, grtivel and boulders 79 Dolonute and limestone 797 Variegated marls with beds of dolomite. ... 121 Rock salt, first bed 31 Dolomite with marls toward base 32 Rock salt, second bed 26 Dolomite 7 Rock salt, third bed 36 Marls with dolomite and anhydrite 81 Rock salt, fourth bed 16 Dolomite and anhydrite 7 Rock salt, fifth bed 14 Marls, soft, with anhydrite 136 Rock salt, sixth bed 6 Marls, dolomite, and anhydrite 132 1,517 A total of 126 feet of rock salt. In regions of great evaporation salt lakes are fre- quently found. Streams carry soluble salts from the land, and if the water is removed only by evapora- tion the closed basin becomes gradually saltier. The Great Salt Lake of Utah and the Dead Sea may thus ultimately become beds of rock salt. Salt springs are but mineral waters particularly rich in sodium chlorid, which derive their salts either from subterranean masses or from salts disseminated through clays and ■ I 102 THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. marls. These brines frequently collect in porous rocks and are often associated with petroleum and gas. In the opinion of Hunt the saline springs of the Palaeozoic rocks of Ontario and Quebec derive their ingredients from the sea water held in the interstices of the marine sediments of the period. Canadian Localities. — A number of salt springs arise from the Lower Carboniferous rocks of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but the proportion of salt is too small to be of economic value. About five hundred bushels are made annually at Sussex, N.B., which is used locally for table and dairy purposes. In a belt of countrj^ ten to fifteen miles wide, and extending from the Niagara River to Southampton, Ont., rocks of the Onondaga period of the Upper Silurian form the outcrop, and these are overlaid to the south-west by Devonian strata. At numerous wells sunk through these overlying rocks for 1,000 to 2,000 feet, beds of salt have been found. The record of a boring for a Goderich well, given above, is typical. At first the salt was supposed to be confined to a limited area near Lake Huron, but it is now known to extend south through parts of Mid- dlesex, Kent and Essex counties, as well as under South Bruce, Huron and Lambton. At Kincardine the salt bed is found 888 feet below the surface ; to the south the depth increases, being 1,170 feet at Clinton and 1,620 at Courtright. Farther wuth, at Windsor, the upper salt bed rises to 1,272 feet. Salt from the same horizon is found across Lake Huron at St, Glair and Saginaw, but the brines v/hieh arQ THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. 103 evaporated at the latter place come from a higher horizon, that of the Lower Carboniferous. The quantity of salt is inexhaustible. At Goderich the six beds aggregate 126 feet of solid salt, to say nothing of the quantity distributed through the marls. At Blyth a bed eighty feet thick is found ; at Petrolia, one 105 feet thick ; at Windsor the well is seventy-nine feet into the second bed without piercing it. All the beds are not of equal purity ; the second and third at Goderich arc ".mong the purest known, yielding on analysis 99.7 per cent, of salt. Numerous salt springs are found in the Devonian area to the west of Lake Winnipegosis, but no beds of rock salt have been discovered. These brines, though weak, have been used in the past as a source of salt. The process of manufacture as carried on by the Hudson's Bay Company was crude in the extreme. A hole five or six feet deep was made in the soil, and from this the water was ladled into kettles near at hand. From these the salt was scooped as it formed, and after draining for a short time was packed in birch bark for shipment. Farther to the north, along the Athabasca, similar springs are found, and have been used by the same company. Manufacture. — Throughout the Goderich region the water that finds its way downward on the out- side of the pipes which are sunk, forms an almost saturated solution, which is pumped to the surface and evaporated. A saturated brine contains 25.7 per cent, of salt ; the brines of Ontario, twenty to twenty-four per cent., in which respect Canadian manufacturers 104 THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. have a great advantage, those of Syracuse, N.Y., con- taining only eighteen to twenty per cent. In some cases water is forced down between an inner and an outer pipe and drawn up through the inner. Evaporation of the brines is accomplished either by artificial heat, or by solar heat, or by congelation. Solar evaporation of ocean water is also practised in California, Scotland, etc. Congelation is practised in Norway. The ice which forms on a solution of salt consists of nearly pure water, and by repeated removal of the frozen surface a stronger brine is gradually obtained. In Ontario the brine is usually evaporated by artificial heat in iron pans one hundred to two hundred feet long and twenty-five wide. Uses. — The chief use of salt is in seasoning and pre- serving foods, and as this depends on population there can be but a slow increase in production in Canada. Moreover, salt for use in the fisheries is imported free of duty, and as vesselmen carry it westward for almost nothing (it saves ballast), English salt can be sold in Montreal as cheaply as Canadian. Salt is, further, the basis of many important chemical industries, caustic soda, sodium carbonate, hydrochloric acid and bleaching powder being all derived from it. A small amount is used as a fertilizer and in the reduction of ores of silver. THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. SALT STATISTICS OF CANADA. 105 Production, tons Value Exports Imports paying duty — tons . «» a —value Imports duty free — tons. . . . " «« " —value .. 1886. 62,359 52,000 $227,000 $160,000 17,000 1,000 6,133 4,200 ^9,0 $30,000 90,103 101,000 $255,000 $333,000 1895. Literature. — Geolos^ical occurrence in Ont., Reports Geol. Sur., 1863-66, 1866, 1874-75, 1876-77; Occurrence, etc., in Man., Geol. Sur., V. 1890, pp. 219-224 E. Statistics, Geol. Sur. Rep. S ; Min. Resources of Ont., 1890. GYPSUM. Gypsum (CaS04 + 2aq) is a soft mineral consisting of sulfate of calcium and water. It is usually white or grey in color, but may be red, brown, or black, if impure. It occurs at times in distinct plates, clear and transparent ; again in fibres with a pearly lustre, giving rise to the name satin spar ; more usually it is a massive, dull-colored rock, a fine-grained variety of which is known as alabaster. Gypsum often forms extensive beds in stratified rocks, especially in limestones and calcareous shales, and occurs in all formations from the Silurian up- wards. In Canada it is found in the Lower Silurian of Quebec, in the Onondaga division of the Upper Silurian in Ontario, and in the Lower Carboniferous ]06 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. of the Maritime Provinces. Large deposits were made in Triassic time in the western United States, and in Eocene time in Europe. Canadian Localities. — Gypsum occurs in immense beds through the Lower Carboniferous strata of northern Nova Scotia. In Cumberland it outcrops along a line from Minudie to Wallace, particularly at Napan River and Pugwash. It is much more abundant in Hants and Colchester, particularly the former. Near Windsor there is found a " long range of cliffs of snowy whiteness," which, however, contain much anhydrite as well as gypsum. It is quarried for export at Windsor, Cheverie, Walton, Stewiacke and other places, with shipping facilities. The deposit is inexhaustible ; the amount quarried is only limited by the demand. In Pictou a bed of economic value exists on the East River, but too far from navigation. Eastward the beds are found in Antigonish, where a cliff of gypsum, white and red, 200 feet in height, fronts the ocean. At Plaister Cove across the strait an enormous bed is found, two-thirds of which, how- ever, is anhydrite. It is also found in Inverness, Victoria and Cape Breton counties. Nearly the whole product of Nova Scotia is shipped in the crude form to the eastern United States. Gypsum, according to Dawson, " is a very abundant mineral in New Brunswick, the deposits being numerous, large, and in general of great purity. They occur in all parts of the Lower Carboniferous district, in Kings, Albert, Westmoreland and Victoria, especially in the vicinity of Sussex, in Upham, on the THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 107 North River in Westmoreland, at Martin Head on the Bay shore, on the Tobique River in cliffs over 100 feet high, and about the Albert Mines. At the last-named locality the mineral has been extensively quarried from beds about sixty feet in thickness, and calcined in large works at Hillsborough." At present the mineral is shipped from Albert and Victoria counties, most of it going in a crude condition to the United States and selling at about 90 cents a ton. In the valley of the Grand River from near Cayuga to Paris, Ontario, for a distance of forty miles, gypsum frequently outcrops. The beds are lenticular in shape, the greatest diameter being about a quarter of a mile, and the thickness three to seven feet at the maximum, and nothing at the edges of the lenses. The beds are horizontal and are capped by thin bands of limestone and the drift, or by the latter alone, which gives the country a hummocky appearance.' Some parts of the gypsum are grey, others white, the latter being purer and usually at the top. A large number of mines have been opened. Usually a level is run in from the valley of the river and the mineral brought out on a car. It is ground for land plaster and calcined to make plaster of Paris. The former finds a market in south-western Ontario ; the latter, under the trade names of " Adamant Wall Plaster," " Alabastine," " Plastico," is sold throughout the Dominion. These deposits are found in the Onondaga formation of the Upper Silurian, which has been described earlier in the chapter as salt-bearing. It outcrops between Lakes Erie and Huron for a di§- 108 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. tance of 150 miles, and the gypsum-bearing area may yet be considerably extended. Along the Moose River for a distance of seven miles banks of gypsum ten to twenty feet high have been found. Apparently these beds are Devonian. The deposit is, of course, too far away to be of any value. Gypsum is so widely distributed on this con- tinent, and in such large amounts, that it cannot be shipped with profit to any long distance. In northern Manitoba two beds, respectively twenty- two and ten feet in thickness, have been reported, and farther to the north-west along the Mackenzie River it has been found. On the Salmon River, British Columbia, it also occurs in economic amounts, but at none of these localities is it mined. * Origin. — A number of theories have been advanced to account for the great beds of gypsum. The one most commonly accepted is that given above in con- nection with the origin of the salt beds, viz., the evaporation in closed arms of the sea of salt water. Sediment would be deposited first, then gypsum ; and as evaporation continued, salt would be precipitated. This is the normal order the world over, but every gypsum deposit has not of necessity an overlying salt bed, as evaporation frequently was not continued long enough; and in other cases water afterwards dissolved and carried off the salt which had been formed. Hunt has extended this theory somewhat. He holds that the sulfate of calcium in the sea water is due to a chemical reaction between bicarbonate of calcium and sulfate of magnesium, two soluble salts THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 109 , may seven have onian. I any .8 con- not be venty- 3d, and J River British but at ivanced ^he one in eon- iz., the water. m; and pitated. every ng salt tinned rwards d been lewhat. water nate of le salts brought down from the land. Evaporation would cause the precipitation of gypsum followed by a hydrous carbonate of magnesium. If a calcium car- bonate were also precipitated, it would mix with the magnesium salt, and on being slightly heated yield dolomite. Dana has supposed that the gypsum of Ontario and New York is due to the action of sulfuric acid springs on limestone, and that this might account for the mound-like appearance. Logan, however (Geol. Can., 1863, p. 352), thinks that the gypsum was formed at the same time as the shales that overlie it, and that the mounds are due to the removal of softer parts of the shales. Another theory which accounts for the mound-like deposits is that of hydration. Anhydrite (CaSO^), which is gypsum without its water crystallization, is found in many sedimentary deposits, and as it is capable of taking up 25 per cent, of its weight of water, and of forming gypsum, but in doing so swells considerably, this would account for the dome -like masses. Dawson adopts the sul- furic acid theory to account for the immense deposits of Nova Scotia. He assumes that the acid given off by volcanoes found its way along the bed of the ocean, until it met with beds of calcareous matter which it changed into gypsum, and this agrees with the fact that gypsum is only found associated with marine limestones. Uses. — Gypsum, ground to a fine powder, is used as a fertilizer. It is also ground and heated, when it loses its water of crystallization and becomes plaster of Paris. This substance has the valuable property 8 110 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. of taking up the water again and hardening, so that it is used to form moulds, models and cornices. Tinted with proper materials it forms a beautiful decorative finish for walls, cheaper forms being even used as common wall plaster. The World's Fair buildings at Chicago owed their beauty to a white coating of stucco made from gypsum. Fine, granular, semi-transparent varieties known as alabaster are carved into ornaments. STATISTICS, 1894. Tons. Value. Production — Nova Scotia 168,000 8148,000 New Brunswick 53,000 48,000 Ontario 2,300 6,200 Total 223,300 $202,200 Exports 160,000 168,000 Imports, crude and manufactured 4,200 Literature. — Localities : Nova Scotia and New Brunswick — Dawson, "Acad. Geol." ; Ontario— Geol. Can., 1863; Min. Resources Ontario, 1890 ; Bur, Mines, 1891. Manitoba — Can. Rec. Sci., III. 353, 1889. North-West Territories— Geol. Sur., 1888, 30 D, 101 D. British Columbia— Geol. Sur., 1889, 42 S. Origin: Hunt, " Chem. and Geol. Essays," 1875, Chap. VIII.; Dawson, "Acad. Geol.," 1878, p. 262; Dana, "Geol.," 1895, p. 564. Production: Rep. S of Geol. Sur. Can. BARITE. Barite (BaSO^) is connected chemically with gypsum and may be considered here. It is also known as barytes and as heavy spar. It is a common vein-stone especially with lead and zinc ores, and in Nova Scotia THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. Ill with iron ores. It also occurs as veins or pockets in limestone and sandstone, and these latter deposits are of greater commercial value since they are purer. It is widely distributed in Canada but only mined in a desultory way. At a number of points in Pictou and Colchester counties, N.S., as Hodson, Brookfield, Five Islands, it has been mined and exported, but the total production has been only a few thousand tons. A vein three feet wide at Hull, Que , is the source of a few tons of material used in Toronto. On McKellar's Island, Lake Superior there is a deposit of quartz, calcite and barite sixty feet in width. It is only mined intermittently, though one of the best deposits ever found. The chief use of barite is as a pigment ; for this purpose it is usually mixed with white lead, which it closely resembles in color and weight. By some it is considered an adulterant, though others claim that it gives greater body to the paint and that the mixture resists the action of the weather better than pure lead. Barite should be free from quartz grains and iron stains, though the latter may be removed by boil- ing with sulfuric acid. In 1894 the shipments were 1,080 tons, valued at $2,830. CHAPTER X. APATITE AND MICA Apatite (Gr. anari, deception) occurs in green, red, blue, white, and even black crystals or crystalline masses, the former being hexagonal in outline and frequently of large size, one from Buckingham, Que., weighing 550 pounds and being seventy-two and a half inches in circumference. Apatite is mainly cal- cium phosphate, its composition being represented by the formula, 3Ca32PO| + CaFg, though fiuorin may be replaced by chlorin. An average of seven Canadian apatites, analyzed by Hoffman, shows cal- cium phosphate, 87.4 per cent.; calcium fluorid, 7.4 per cent; calcium chlorid, 3.9 per cent.; calcium carbonate, 0.7 per cent. Distribution. — Apatite is widely distributed, few igneous and metamorphic rocks being destitute of it, but the quantity is, in most cases, insignificant. The mineral in economic amounts has been found only in Canada, Norway and Spain, and there in the older rocks. In Canada it is found in two localities. One, in Ontario, stretches from a few miles north of Kingston one hundred miles in a northerly direction, and is fifty to seventy-five miles in width. The other, in Quebec, extends northward from Hull about sixty miles, and THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. 113 is fifteen or twenty miles in breadth. The latter, though smaller in area, has much richer deposits, and the chief mining operations centre there. Occurrence. — In both districts t)»e country rocks are gneisses and related rocks belonging to the upper part of the Lower Laurentian. For the most part they occur in belts with a north-east and south-west trend. Intrusive masses of pyroxenite occur in the country rock, the dikes sometimes running with the strike, at other times across it. As there are very seldom sharply defined walls, the pyroxene and gneiss shading into one another, some authors have held the pyroxenite to be a metamorphosed bed, but as the masses of pyroxene sometimes cut across the gneiss, this cannot be the case. The gneiss is frequently indistinctly stratified and often quite massive, and is usually more hornblendic in Ontario than in Quebec. The apatite deposits are usually found either in the pyroxenic or hornblendic rocks or (juite near them. Sometimes the mineral is found in well-defined veins, but more usually it is in irregular masses throughout the pyroxenic rock, in some places apatite predominating, in others pyroxene, or mica, or felspar. The " pockets " vary from a frac- tion of an inch to many feet in diameter, and while there is a vast quantity of waste rock to be mined, it has been pretty well established that the deposits are continuous. Associated with the apatite are a large number of minerals, about thirty in all. Zircons, sphenes, scapolites and micas are found in almost unequalled size and perfection. 114 THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. rigin. — Many divorae views are held concerning the orijrin of the Canadian apatites. Sir W. Dawson and oLiiorr believe in an organic origin, and suppose that coprolites and phosphatic nodules of the original sediments have undergone metaniorphisin along with the muds and sands which held them, and so account for the bedded character of many of the deposits. Veins have probably been formed in some cases by subsecjuent segregation from these beds. Others hold that there is absolutely no evidence of organic origin. Selwyn, formerly director of the Geological Survey, asserts that " they are clearly connected for the most part with the basic eruptions of Archa3an date." The same origin is held by the Norwegian geologists for the apatite deposits of their country, which are known to closely resemble those of 'Janada. The general view seems to be that the apatite and accompanying minerals have been segregated from the surrounding rocks into irregular masses without the existence of any true fissure. Production. — Mining operations were begun in Ontario about 1850, but owing to the pockety charac- ter of the deposits were not vigorously prose<^':tc(l. Much of the ore was raised by ike "contract sv^^.-pi," farmers excavating pits a few feet deep, a..^, on exhausting a moss, opening another hole a little farther on About 1871 extensive operations were undertaken . the Quebec district; drills were used for locatiiii; to.-) deposits, and work prosecuted in a more systoioAtie manner than had been the case in Ontario. Owing to the irregularity of the deposits X'V) tHE MINERAL WEALTH Of CANADA. 115 not more than 7 per cont. ol tlie rock mined is apatite, but the mineral obtained is remari CO V 1 1 pa 3, 34 17.52 • u 0.17 • 7.30 54.35 62.39 3.99 16.82 0.77 6.85 71.11 5.04 11.63 0.66 9.20 72.65 4.89 12.77 0..36 6.58 80.51 5.20 8.37 0.51 3.62 92.56 3.33 2.53 •^. 1.58 16.82 9.18 2.36 2.75 1.79 ^-, 4 8.49 0.78 5.23 3.01 0.33 0.86 8.36 5.79 ,3.613.57 14.03 >0.57 )2.64 >7.85 58.56 2.84 2.75 6 58 4.62 6.29 58.56 5.16 59.3') 5.50 60.23 9.44 60.84 9.62 61.55 65.82 ,80.93 80.62 83.27 85.76 87.18 88.18 3.62 2.83 7.67 9.74 8.20 6.69 2.63 4.04 e amount & o i u 6 o S-_+3 4 D0<« n 7.30 16.82 6.85 9.18 9.20 2.36 6.58 2.7r. 3.62 1.79 1.58 .. THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 129 Impurities in Coal— Carbon and hydrogen are the valuable constituents of coal. Nitrogen, oxygen and the mineral ingredients known as ash, are not deleterious except so far as they replace more valu- able elements. Hygroscopic water which, on burning the coal, must be converted into steam, lessens the heating value of the fuel. Sulfur and phosphorus burn to offensive gases and act injuriously on iron, 80 that coals containing them are not suitable for domestic or smelting purposes. The amount of ash in good coals varies from two to ten per cent. From the method of formation it is naturally somewhat larger in anthracite than in bitu- minous coal. In the best coal it does not seem to be greater than the amount of ash in the plants from which it is derived; but fragments of shale are usually present and increase the amount. Silica, alumina, lime, iron, potash and soda are the chief constituents of the ash. Geological Occurrence. — Coal occurs in beds interstratified with shales, sandstones, fire-clays and limestones, the seams varying from a fraction of an inch to many feet in thickness. The "Mammoth" vein of Pennsylvania reaches a maximum of 50 feet, and the chief seam at Pictou, N.S., is 38 feet in thick- ness. These thick seams are not, however, all coal, for there are frequent partings of bituminous shale. The following section slightly condensed from Daw- son's " Acadian Geology," shows the structure of the main seam at Pictou : ' >: 130 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. Feet. Inchei, 1. Roof shale 3 2. Coal with shaly bands 6^ 3. Coal, laminated ; layers of mineral charcoal and bri^t coal ; band of ironstone balls in bottom. 2 4. Coal, fine, cubical and laminated ; much mineral charcoal 3 2 6. Carbonaceous shale and ironstone, with layer of coarse coal 4^ 6. Coal, laminated and cubical 9 3 7. Ironstone and carbonaceous shale 8 8. Coal, with ironstone balls in bottom 1 2 9. Coal 6 7 10. Ironstone and pyrites 3 11. Coal 10 3 12. Coal coarse, layers of bituminous shale and pyrites 1 13. Coal, laminated 2 1 14. Coal with shale 2 3 16. Underclay 10 Thickness perpendicular to horizon 40 8 Actual thickness 38 6 The beds occur for the most part in trough-shaped basins, and the different strata and coal seams are fairly persistent in arrangement and thickness over considerable areas. The Pittsburg seam of the Appa- lachian coal field underlies in area of 22,600 square miles. Compared with this the Canadian coal fields are of small extent, but the beds are frequently found throughout the whole field. Below the coal seam there is nearly always a bed of clay, supposed to be the soil on which grew the vegetation that was subsequently transiortned into The MlJfERAL WEALTH OF CAI^ADA. 131 2 3 8 2 7 3 3 1 3 10 8 6 a bed iw the the coal. Fossil roots, known as stigmariae, are fre- quently found in these strata. The clays are often of great purity, and frequently are very refractory. Of course such clays, at the time they supported plant life, must have been horizontal; though now they, and the coal seams above, are frequently found highly inclined, as in the Pictou field. In the foldings to which the coal has been subjected it has in many cases suffered change. In the Bow River region of Alberta the coals of the plains are lignite ; but as the mountains are approached the lignites are replaced by bituminous coals, and these in the Cascade basin in the mountains are replaced by semi -anthracites and anthracites. Thin seams of coal have been found in the Silurian and Devonian systems, but none are of economic im- portance. The Carboniferous, especially the upper portions, is, in the extent and quality of its coal beds, by far the most important coal-bearing system. The Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene systems all contain coal, usually in small amounts and of poor quality. The Cretaceous and Tertiary coal-beds are often, however, of enormous extent, and some of the beds are of excellent quality. Origin of Coal. — That coal is of vegetable origin is attested by the fact that the woody structure is still to be seen in some cases, and the microscope shows the cells of the original plant in many more. Spores of lycopods are recognized in some coals, and tree- trunks standing at right angles to the coal seam, are frequently found with their roots penetrating the 1^2 Th£ Mineral wealth of canaDa. clays below. The Nova Scotia beds have furnished many fine examples of these erect trunks. These vegetable remains slowly lost their excess of hydrogtn and oxygen, probably much as charcoal is at the present time made from wood, i.e., by heating where no air is present. In this way the oxygen unites with a small part of the carbon and passes off as carbon dioxid, and a part of the hydrogen disappears as water. The following table, compiled from Thorpe, shows the gradual passage from wood to anthracite coal : Mean composition of wood . Club-moss without ash . . . . Humus, mean composition . . Peat, Devon Lignite, Cologne Brown coal, Tasmania Bituminous coal, Dudley . . . " " Newcastle Anthracite, Wales " Peru a > O w 49.6 6.1 49.3 6.5 54.8 4.8 59.7 5.9 67.0 ^3 71.9 5.6 79.7 5.4 87.9 5.3 93.5 3.4 97.3 1.7 o s 43.1 44.2 40.4 34 4 27.7 22.5 14.9 6.8 3.1 1.0 00 1.2 The olub-mosses are the nearest living representa- tives of the coal vegetation, and the first two analyses show the great similarity in composition of very different plants. The oxygen and nitrogen are gradually eliminated, leaving a product each time richer in carbon. Apparently the hvdroo"en is not The mineral wealth of canada. 133 affected, but if a constant quantity of carbon is taken it, too, is shown to be given off. Wood, average Peat, " Lignite, •• Brown coal, average Bituminous coal, '* Anthracite coal, " •SPg.S aj ^ "^ § f c8 '$ < o^ o w 30 100 12.3 50 100 9.7 70 100 8.3 75 100 7.4 80 100 6.4 90 100 2.6 C3 9, 86.8 54.7 40.0 29.7 13 4 2.3 Wood exposed to the air quickly rots, and all the carbon is consumed, but below water the action goes on much slower, since little oxygen is present. In this way plant remains might be preserved for years, new accumulations but serving the better to prevent the oxidation of the carbon of the old. Noticing the gradual passage in composition and physical charac- ters from peat to coal, it is but natural to suppose a peat bog to be the origin of all coal beds. Doubtless this peat bog theory is true for some of the lignite formations, but in the main it is incorrect. As the shales and limestones above and below the coal seams contain marine or brackish-water fossils, the beds must have been made in or near salt water. Nor have they arisen through the drifting of timber to the mouth of a stream and the silting over of the vegetable matter. This estuary theory does not account for fragile fern impressions and erect tree ,•; ■r-^^,- n 134 THE MUfERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. trunks and the stigmariae in the under clay. Prob- ably the vegetation flourished in swamps of brackish water along the coast and barely above sea level. After years of growth and decay a bed of vegetable matter was formed, and by a change of level the sea flowed over it, muds or sands were deposited and a slight elevation taking place a new growth of plants began. This in its turn was covered by the sea and a marine sediment deposited. And so by alternate risings and fallings of the land, by alternate marsh and sea, vegetable and mineral beds were deposited. The organic material under pressure slowly lost its gases and became coal, the variety depending on the age of the beds and on the amount of pressure and heat. Graphite, almost pure carbon, has originated, in some cases at least, through excessive heat and pressure applied to anthracite, and it seems to be the last stage in .the progressive change from wood to carbon. The Coal Fields of Canada.— 7%e Maritime Pro- vinces — Throughout Nova Scotia and New Bruns- wick coal is found in rocks of the Carboniferous era^ which are widely distributed and in places are of great thickness. Sir William Logan's section at the Joggins has a measured thickness of 14,570 feet, and the lowest part of the system is absent. Sir W. Dawson assigns a thickness of 16,000 feet to the Car- boniferous of Pictou. The New Brunswick beds are very much thinner, 600 feet being about the average. Carboniferous rocks are exposed over about two-thirds of New Brunswick and one-third of Nova Scotia* THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. 135 They border the Gulf of St. Lawrence from Gaspe through New Brunswick, northern Nova Scotia, in- cluding Cape Breton Island and western Newfound- land. Although of large extent, but a small portion of this area is coal-producing. Three fields are of economic importance, viz., Cumberland, Pictou and Cape Breton counties in Nova Scotia. Coal is found in other districts, but in too narrow seams to be of much value. A small amount is mined yearly in the vicinity of Grand Lake, N.B., but operations are of a desultory character. The Sydney or Cape Breton field, which has been worked for almost two hundred years, extends from Mlr^ Bay to Cape Dauphin, thirty-two miles along the north-east coast of the island. The land area of the coal measures proper embraces sixty square miles, and it has been estimated that within three miles of the shore two billion tons of submarine coal are available. If the millstone grit, which carries workable seams in places, is included, the land area of workable coal becomes 200 square miles. The field is divided into four basins by anticlinals, but the beds and coal seams are remarkably uniform for the whole district. Conglomerate followed by limestone consti- tutes the lowest 4i,600 feet of the Carboniferous rocks. Next above is 4,000 feet of millstone grit. Succeeding this are the productive coal measures which include argillaceous and arenaceous shales, marls, underclays, limestones, black shales and coal. The measures are 1,850 feet thick, and of these forty to fifty feet are coal. The averasre nrsTQ iQ ciq\A ^0 be 136 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. twenty -four, of which six are three feet and over. Underclays are always present, and sandstone fre- quently covers the coal seam. The coal, which is all bituminous, is said to be more combustible than that of Pictou, and contains less ash and more sulfur. About a dozen collieries are being worked in this field. The Cumberland county area has in general a trough-like structure, the rocks outcropping on the north dipping to the south, and those occurring on the north flank of the Cobequid Mountains dipping to the north. Cliffs in this county fronting Chignecto Bay furnish one of the finest sections of carbonifer- ous rocks in the world. The famous South Joggins section exhibits almost a continuous series of beds 14.500 feet in thickness. The beds dip S. 25° W. at an angle of 19° and are exposed for about ten miles. They are made up of sandstones, conglomerates, shales, limestones and underclays filled with stigmarise, the series containing no less than seventy-six coal seams each indicating a period of quiescence and a luxurious marsh. The thickest seam is, however, only five feet, and this has from one to twelve inches of clay along the middle. A number of collieries are operating here and on the continuation of these seams to the east. At Springhill the most productive colliery in the province is working in a distinct basin where there are five seams ranging from four to thirteen feet in thickness. The Pictou field is a continuation to the east of the Cumberland carboniferous deposits. The thickness and number of the coal seams in parts of the dis- THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. 137 trict are very remarkable. A part of the section at the Albion mines is given by Dawson as follows : Feet. Inehei. Main coal Heain (greatoMt thicknuHH) 39 11 HandHtono, Hhalu and ironstunc 157 7 Deup coal Hcatn 24 9 ShaluH, HivndHtone and iri' Htono, with suvcral thin coalH, viz., thti Third Hcaiu, "Purvis" Heam and "Fleming" Heam, in all about twelvo foot thick. 280- "McGregor" coal Hcani 11 Total 613 3 Here we have five seams aggregating nearly eighty- eight feet of coal in a distance of 513 feet. It is to be noted, however, that the measurements were made perpendicular to the surface, and that the beds are inclined at an angle of 20". The main seam has an average thickness of thirty-eight feet, and at least twenty-four feet of this is marketable coal. Dawson calculates that this seam should yield 23,000,000 tons to the square mile, and other seams in the district half as much. Nothing like this amount is, however, attained in practice, the two main seams yielding about 10,000 tons to the acre, or 6,400,000 tons to the sc^uare mile. There are several reasons for this shrink- age : the district is badly faulted ; the beds are steeply inclined, and so, besides being hard to work, soon reach unworkable depths ; there are very sudden changes in the character of the coal, often making it worthless. The coals of this field are non-caking and good steam producers, and some make good coke for iron furnaces. Their worst defect is the large amount of ashes which they contain. 138 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. For details of the geology of these iields and of the mines, consult the following : Cumberland Co. : Dawson, "Acadian Geology," "Rep. Geol. Sur.," 1873-74, 1884-85, S 1886 to S 1892. Pictou Co. : " Rep. Geol. Sur.," 1866-69, 1890-91, S 1886 to S 1894. Poole, "Trans. N.S. Inst. Sci.," II. 1, 1892-93. Dawson, "Acad. Geol. " Cape Breton Co. : " Rep. Geol. Sur.," 1872-73, 1874-75, 1882-84, S 1886 to S 1892. Fletcher, "Trans. Min. Soc, N.S.," III. 1894-95. Dawson, "Acad. Geol." Routledge, «* Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng.," XIV. 642. Much information concerning all of them will be found in the annual reports of the Department of Mines of Nova Scotia. Manitoba and the North-West Territories. — Throughout the plain region of Canada there is an immense tract of territory bearing coal. While the Carboniferous was the coal-forming era of the east, rocks of this age are destitute of coal in the west, their place being taken by the Cretaceous and early Tertiary formations. The coals vary from poor lignites to good anthracites, the quality improving as the mountains are approached. The most easterly beds occur in the Laramie formation in the Turtle Mountain district, Manitoba, where a bed is found some four feet thick and fairly persistent throughout the district. Throughout southern Assiniboia there is an immense area of Laramie rocks, carrying lignite in many places. In the Souris River valley Selwyn estimates th&t there is an area of 120 square miles, carrying 7,137,000 tons to the mile. These coals con- tain a large amount of water, and easily disintegrate on exposure, so that they are unsuited for transporta- tion, but can be used locally. THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 139 Natural sections occurring on the river banks show seams of coal at scores of places throughout the Cretaceous and Laramie of south-western Assiniboia, and the whole of Alberta. At Medicine Hat, on the South Saskatchewan, in a bank 260 feet high, there are nine beds, aggregating sixteen feet of coal, two of these beds being each about five feet thick. At Coal Banks on the Belly River there are five seams in 42 feet. No data are available for estimating the exact extent and value of these enormous beds. Dawson has shown that in several districts in the Bow and Belly River valleys there are 5,000,000 tons to the square mile. The great seam on the North Saskatchewan maintains a thickness of 25 feet for three miles, and has been traced for 180 miles. In the region of the plains the coal is lignitic, but superior to that widely used in Germany and Austria. In the foot-hills and in the isolated Laramie and Cretaceous basins of the mountains, the coal is bituminous. In one basin — the Cascade — pressure has been greater and an anthracite has been produced. This basin is 65 miles long and about 2 wide. The rocks, which are 5,000 feet in thickness, are shales and sandstones of the Kootanie division of the Cretaceous. Two seams of workable coal are here yielding the only anthracite produced in Canada. Outcrops of lignite are found in the river valleys far to the north. Coal beds on the Mackenzie River in latitude 67° N., and on the Lewes, a tributary of the Yukon, and else- where, may yet prove of great value. For details see the following Geol. Sur. Reports : ^ouris River, etc, 1879-80 A; Bow and Belly Rivers, 140 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 1880-82 B, 1882-84. C; Cascade basin, 1885 B; Analyses, physical characters, fuel value, 1882-84 M, 1885 M, 1887 T, 1888 R ; Localities. Catalogue Sec- tion I. of the Museum. British Cohvmbia. — Coal was discovered in British Columbia in 1835, and a few tons mined each year until 1852, when operations were begun on a larger scale. Up to the end of 1896 over 11,000,000 tons have been mined, and the industry is growing con- tinuously. Coal is found in two geological formations, the Mesozoic and Tertiary. Carboniferous rocks, though found in British Columbia, and often of great thickness, are never coal-bearing. The coal found varies all the way from a poor lignite, though first-class bituminous coal to a good anthracite. The Cretaceous was the coal -bearing era in the province, and two periods of growth are recognized. The older is represented by the coal measures of Queen Charlotte Islands, Quatsino Sound, Vancouver Island, and Crow's Nest Pass in the Rocky Mountains. The upper coal measures of the Cretaceous are found at Nanaimo, Comox and Suquash on Vancouver Island. On the Queen Charlotte Islands both anthra- cite and bituminous coal are found. The beds in which the former is found are almost vertical, a fact connected with the metamorphism which the coal has under- gone. Mining operations have been attempted on a bed six feet thick, but the difficulty of following the seams, the coal often being in a crushed and pulveru- lent state, has been a barrier, so far, to success. Valu- able seams of bituminous coal, eighteen feet thick, THE MINEllAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 141 are found in these islands. In the same horizon in the Crow's Nest Pass twenty seams of bitumin- ous coal are reported, three of them being respectively 15, 20 and 30 feet thick, in all 132 feet. The area of this field is at least 144 scjuare miles, and it promises to be one of the most productive fields in the Dominion. Selwyn calculates that there are 50,000,000 tons to the square mile. The chief productive measures at preset are in the upper portion of the Cretaceous system. This formation extends as a synclinal trough for 130 miles, the western side of the trough forming the eastern sloj.e of Vancouver Island, and the remainder being under water. It is divided into two districts, the northern one, the Comox field, having an area of three hundred square miles, and the Nanaimo one to the south an area of two hundred square miles. At Comox the coal measures are 740 feet in thickness, and contain nine seams aggregating 16 feet of coal. The lowest and thickest averages 7 feet. At the Union mine in 122 feet, only a small part of the productive measures, there are ten seams with an aggregate of 30 feet of coal, the thickest bed being 10 feet. Richardson has calculated that in this field there are 16,000,000 tons of coal to the square mile. In the Nanaimo field there are two seams of workable coal, six to '^an feet in thickness. The coal from both these fields is of excellent quality and much superior to the lignites found in Washington and Oregon States to the south. The fuels of the Tertiary in British Columbia are usually lignites, though occasionally a bituminous 10 142 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. coal is found. Most of them are found in rocks of the Miocene era, though at the mouth of the Fraser an area of eighteen thousand S(|uare miles is under- laid by the Laramie formation, which is a con- tinuation of the lignite-bearing formation of Wash- ington State. About twelve thousand square miles of igneous Tertiary rocks in the interior plateau are underlaid by sedimentary rocks of the same era, and these probably contain deposits of lignite in many places. Such beds have indeed been found and worked in the valleys of the Nicola and Thompson rivers. Many other localities are reported, a com- plete list of which is given by Dawson, Rep. R Geol. Sur. Can., 1887-88, p. 145. For details of the coal districts see the Geol. Sur. Reports, 1871-72, 1872-73, 1873-74, 1876-77, 1878-79, B 1885, B 1886, R 1887, A 1891, and the annual reports of the Minis- ter of Mines of British Columbia. Foreign Coal Fields. — In the United States there are several areas of Carboniferous coal, the most im- portant one being that of Pennsylvania- Arkansas. The productive measures of this area are divided into three parts, viz., Appalachian, Illinois and Mississippi. Throughout the Western, Rooky Mountain and Pacific States there are immense anas of ^Vetaceous and Ter- tiary coals. Most of these are lignites, but some are good bituminous coals. The Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States are without good coal ; the interior is well supplied. There are about 300,000 square miles of coal-bearing strata, but not more than 50,000 square miles are of economic importance. THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 143 of In Groat Britain t!io area of tho coal moaaures is 12,000 square niilee, the thicknosa being greater than in any other part of Europe. In France there is an area of 2,000 square miles ; in Spain, 4,000 ; in Belgium, 518; in Austria, 1,800 ; in Germany, 1,700. In Russia there is an area of 30,000 square miles, but in not more than 11,000 are the beds of economic value. In China, India and Australia there are large areas of Permian age, and in Austria and Germany there are large areas of lignite in beds of Miocene age. Production. — The following tables are self- explanatory : ANNUAL PRODUCTION OF CANADA. Year. N. B. N. S. N. W. T B. C. Total Tons. Total Value. 1885 1894 1895 1896 7,000(?) 6,000 9,000 • • • • L.'SH.OOO 2,527,000 2,266,000 40,000 200,000 186,000 366,000 1,135,000 1,052,000 1,880,0(X) 3,868,000 3,513,000 3,743,000 $,S,817,000 8,499,000 7,727,000 8,006,000 IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF CANADA. Im FORTH. Exports. Tons. Value. Tons. Value. ( Bituminous coal . . 1894 j Anthracite V Coal dust. ' Bituminous coal . . 1895 - Anthracite 1^ Coal dust 1,360,000 1,531,000 118,000 1,445,000 1,404,000 181,000 $3,315,000 6,354,000 50,000 3,321,000 5,351,000 52,000 1,104,000 1,011,000 $3,542,000 3,318,000 144 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. PRODUCTION OF COAL IN THE WORLD. ^ (From "SothweU't Mineral Induttry.") (Metric tons, 2,204 lbs.) Country. 1896. Great Britain 194,351,000 United States 177,596,000 Germany 103,877,000 France 28,236,000 Austria 27,250,000 Belgium 20,415,000 Russia 7,551,000 Australia 3,975,000 Japan 3,650,000 Canada 3,187,000 India 2,650,000 All other countries 5,267,000 Total 578,209,000 Literature. — ''Reports Pennsylvania Geological Survey;" Dawson, "Acadian Geology ; " Green, etc., " Coal, Its History and Uses; " Dana's "Geology ; " Geikie's " Geology ; " Details of equipment and production of Canadian mines in statistical report!) (S) of the Geol. Sur., and in the annual reports of the Departments of Mines for N.S. and B.C.; also in Can. Mining Manual, 1896. GRAPHITE. Graphite is a soft greyish-black mineral, with a greasy feeHng, consisting entirely of carbon. It is known also as plumbago and as black-lead, but both are misnomers since it does not contain that metal. Sometimes it occurs in hexagonal crystals, more usually in a massive state, either foliated, columnar, or scaly. It is found in beds or disseminated masses THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 145 in metamorphic rocks as gneiss and crystalline lime- stone. In some cases it has certainly resulted from the alteration of coal by heat, occasioned by mountain folding, as in Rhode Island, or by the heat of errupted dikes, as in Texas. Some have held that all the graphite of the older rocks is of this origin, and that the immense deposits in the Laurentian gneisses are but the metamorphosed vegetable remains of that distant time. Of this we have no direct proof, and the a^ «ience of all fossil remains rather speaks against the tb -ory. Occurrence — Graphite is distributed through the older rocks in all parts of the world. It occurs in immense quantities of exceptional purity in the island of Ceylon, and it is from there that most of the commercial supply is now brought. Austria, Ger- many and the United States contain large deposits, and a considerable amount is mined yearly in these countries. In Canada graphite is found in economic deposits in three localities. In the neig-hborhood of St. John, N.B., beds of argillites and limestones contain large quantities of disseminated graphite. Argenteuil and Ottawa counties. Que., and the line of the Kingston and Pembroke Railway, Ont., are the two other local- ities which are, however, geologically one. The Quebec region is the more imporLant, and from it nearly all the mineral produced in Canada has come. According to Vennor the graphite is here found " in three distinct forms: 1, as disseminated scales, or plates in the limestones, gneisses, pyroxenites and 146 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. I! quartzites, and even in some of the iron ores, as at Hull ; 2, as lenticular or disseminated masses, embed- ded in the limestone, or at the junction of these and the adjoining gneiss and pyroxenite ; and 3, in the form of true fissure veins, cutting the enclosed strata." The first method of occurrence is of the moat import- ance economically, twenty to thirty ,per cent, of the rock frequently being graphite. The veins vary from an inch to two feet in width and contain the purest mineral. The rock is crushed and washed and the lighter graphite separated, the dressed graphite result- ing containing three to ten per cent of ash, which by treatment with hydr«^chloric acid is easily removed. Hoffman has shown that so treated Canadian graphite is quite as pure and quite as incombustible as the Ceylon product. Vein graphite from Ceylon and Canada are almost identical, as the following analyses show: Canada: carbon, 99.81; ash, 0.08; volatile matter, 0.11 Ceylon: *' 99.79; " 0.05; " " 0.16 Notwithstanding these large and pure deposits the production of Canadian graphite is decreasing, the reason assigned being the lack of uniformity in the article put on the market. Uses. — The uses of graphite depend on its infusi- bility, softness, and ability to conduct heat and electricity. One-third of the product is employed in refractory articles, as crucibles, furnaces, etc. It is a striking fact, illustrating the influence of the arrangement of the molecules of a su THE MINER At WEAtTH OF CANADA. 147 properties, that we use pure carbon as charcoal oi* coke to heat our furnaces, and pure carbon mixed with fire-clay to make crucibles to resist the heat. Other uses of graphite are for stove polish, foundry facings, glazing powder, lubricating heavy machinery, electro- typing and pencil leads. The production in 1895 was 220 tons, valued at $6,100, and of this 54 tons valued at $4,800 were exported. There were imported the same year plum- bago manufactures to the value of $38,000. Lnrv, > ,<.\— Rep. Geol. Sur., 1873-74, 1876-77, 1888 K, 1890-91 ^ >.- S S. a its CHAPTER XIII. THE HYDROCARBONS. PETROLEUM. Petroleum is an oily liquid of disagreeable odor, usually greenish-brown in color but varying widely. In specific gravity it ranges from 0.6 to 0.9, some kinds being thin and flowing whilst others are thick and viscous. On the one hand, it graduates through maltha into asphalt or solid bitumen ; on the other into natural gas. None of these substances are pro- perly minerals. They are indefinite mixtures of a number of hydrocarbon compounds, chiefly of the par- affin series (C^Hg^^g)- The olefins (C^Hg^) and ben- zenes (CjjHgn.g) are present in small amount. The higher the value of n the higher the melting and boiling points, so that certain mixtures are gases, others liquid oils, and a third division are solids. The solid paraffins are soluble in the liquid ones, so that crude petroleum often yields large amounts of paraffin wax. This is especially true of the Ontario oil. The different liquid compounds are separated by distillation, and the crude oil is made to yield gaso- line, benzine, naphtha, l^rosene, lubricating oil, etc. THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 149 Occurrence — Petroleum occurs in all the sedi- mentary formations from the Cambrian period to the present. Its geographical distribution is world-wide, but it is in comparatively few localities that it exists in economic quantities. It is associated usually with argillaceous shales and sandstones, and not infre- quently is found impregnating limestones. Where these oleiferous rocks outcrop, the water of the wells and rivers frequently has a scum of oil. More often, and especially with the richer deposits, the oil beds are at some distance below the surface and covered with an impervious layer of rock. The source of the oil is undoubtedly the animals and plants which were entombed in the sedimentary deposits. On decom- position these remains yielded hydrocarbons which were stored in the rocks, sometimes evenly distrib- uted, as throughout the bituminous Utica shale; at other times collected in caverns. The geological structure necessary for the preservation of oil and gas seems to be an anticlinal arch with an impei*- vious layer above and a porous one below, or else a cavern in an impervious stratum. Some geologists hold that oil and gas are always the result of secondary distillation — that after the production of bituminous shales slow distillation takes place, and the products collect where the structure is suitable, or slowly escape. On this view oil should never be found in the rock in which the organic remains abound, but above it. For some fields, as the Ontario one, this is certainly not the case. Some have assumed that oil and gas are the more volatile parts 150 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. of the immense mass of vegetation whose remains form our coj:-i beds. The great oil and gas wells are, however, sunk in Silurian and Devonian strata, and consequently lie below the coal beds, which belong to the later Carboniferous period. When a well is drilled into a petroleum pool, oil, gas, or salt water may be found. They are probably arranged in the porous sandstone in the order of their specific gravities, with gas at the top, water at the bottom, and oil between. Through long-con- tinued distillation in a confined space, the gas is usually under great pressure. When the bore-hole reaches the deposit, the expanding gas either rushes out itself, or, if the bore tapped the cavern nearer the bottom, forces out the oil, or water, as the case may be. After exhaustion of the gaseous pressure pump- ing is resorted to. Before leaving a pumped-out well it is customary to "shoot" it. A charge of nitro- glycerine is exploded in the bottom, by which new channels are opened and a fresh supply of oil often obtained. Canadian Oil Fields.— In 1862 the first flowing well was struck at Oil Springs, Lambton county, Ontario. There was an immediate rush to the field. Dr. Alex. Winchell, in his " Sketches of Creation," describes the excitement and waste as follows " Though western Pennsylvania has produced numer- ous flowing wells of wonderful capacity, there is no quarter of the world where the production has attained such prodigious dimensions as in 1862 upon Oil Creek, in the township of Enniskillen, Ontario. THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. 151 rr The first flowing well was struck there January 11, 1862, and before October not less than thirty-five wells had commenced to drain a storehouse which provident Nature had occupied untold thousands of years in filling for the uses — not the amusement — of man. There was no use for the oil at that time. The price had fallen to ten cents per barrel. The unsophisticated settlers of that wild and wooded region seemed inspired by an infatuation. Without an object, save the gratification of their curiosity at the onwonted sight of a combustible fluid pouring out of the bosom of the earth, they seemed to vie with each other in plying their hastily and rudely erected 'spring poles' to work the drill that was almost sure to burst, at the depth of a hundred feet, into a prison of petroleum. Some of these wells flowed three hundred and six hundred barrels per day. Others flowed a thousand, two thousand, and three thousand barrels per day ; three flowed sever- ally six thousand barrels per day. . . . Three years later that oil would have brought ten dollars per barrel in ^old. Now its escape was the mere pastime of full-grown boys." Five million barrels were wasted in this way the first summer. There are two distinct fields in Lambton county, separated by a synclinal fold. The Petrolia one extends west-north-west thirteen miles, and is about two in width. The Oil Springs field covers about two square miles. In both cases the oil is found in the Corniferous limestone — at Oil Springs at a 132 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. depth of 370 feet; at Petrolia, 465 feet below the surface. The following is the log of a well at Petrolia : Surface 104 feet }■ Drift. Limestone (" Upper lime "). . . 40 " ^ Shale (" Upper soap ") 130 " Limestone (" Middle lime ") . . 15 " >■ Hamilton. Shale (*' Lower soap") 43 " j Limestone, hard white 68 *' j *' soft 40 '• 1^ ., ,4 oe 4c yComiferous. " grey 25 "J Oil at a depth of 465 " About ten thousand wells are now in operation, yielding on the average about half a barrel a day. About four hundred wells are drilled annually to replace those exhausted. Pipe lines are laid through the district, and the companies receive oil from pro- ducers and store it until sold to the refiners. A little south-west of Bothwell, Kent county, is a third field, which is likely to becorc'^ a producing area. Small amounts of oil have been obtained in other parts of Ontario, notably Oxford, Essex, Perth and Welland counties and onr Manitoulin Island ; but no paying wells have been found. Recent discoveries '^n Pelee Island are promising. Oil oozes to the rface over a considerable area to the south of Gaspt^ i*„ v^Jue. Several borings have been made, but the yield has been small. The prospect for productive oil wells is, however, a good one. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick surface indications of oil have THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 153 been found, but boring operations have resulted in entire failure. In the valley of the Athabasca, in the North- West Territories, there is an immense deposit of tar sands. These sands are siliceous in character, fine-grained and cemented together by maltha, or inspissated petroleum. They belong to the Dakota formation, the lowest division of the Cretaceous, and lie un- conformably on Devonian limestones. They outcrop over an area of one thousand square miles, and possibly extend beneath the surface as far as the Saskatchewan. In many places one-fifth of the sand, by bulk, is bitumen. It has been calculated by McConnell that there are six and a half cubic miles of bitumen in the Athabasca valley. It is the residue of a flow of petroleum from the underlying Devonian, unequalled elsewhere in the world. These tar sands will doubtless soon become of value as a source of bitumen. Farther to the south there is a probability of find- ing oil which has not lost its volatile ingredients. South of Boiler Rapids the tar sand is overlaid by impervious shale, which in small anticlines doubtless has imprisoned some oil and gas. All through the Mackenzie River valley similar deposits of tar are found, and the same probabilities of extensive oil pools exist. In the South Kootenay V&hb there are some indications of economic deposits being found in Cambrian strata. Refining and Use. — The crude oil is distilled in larsre sheet-iron retort-s= The easily vaporized gasoline ■ ■ 'I 154 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. and naphtha come off first and aro condensed ; then the kerosene, the wool oils, and lastly the lubricating oils follow ; a carbonaceous mass is left behind. The coke is used as fuel ; the other distillates are further separated and purified by redistillation and by chemi- cals. The Ontario oil contains a very largo percentage of sulfur, and in the early days it was not known how to remove this. Canadian oil, as a result, had a dis- agreeable odor, and there is a prejudice against it to this day, though it is claimed that the best quality is now as good as any on the market. The crude petroleum yielded the refiners in 1889 : Illuminating oils 38 . 7 per cent. Benzine and naphtha 1.6 *• ** Paraffin and other oils (including gas, paraffin, black and other lubri- cating oils and paraffin wax)... 25.3 ** " Waste (including coke, tar and heavy residuum) 34 . 4 •• ** 100.0 Few raw materials yield as many products minis- tering to the comfort and happiness of men as does the rank-smelling crude petroleum. The benefits of cheap illuminating oil can hardly be overestimated. The lighter cils are used to mix the paints with which we adorn our homes, and the heavier vaseline is used to anoint our heads. Thick, black oils are used to lubricate car-axles and other heavy machinery, and white paraffin forms the basis of chewing gum. As THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 155 solid paraffin, as liquid oil, as gaseous gasoline, petroleum affords us both heat and light. As naphtha and benzine, it is used as a solvent of fats. Production. — The following tables show the mag- nitude of the oil industry : PRODUCTION OF CANADIAN OIL REFINERIES. PRODUOTS 1895. Quantity. Value. Illuminating oils gallons Benzine and naphtha '* Paraffin oils '• Gas and fuel oils " 10,711,000 642,000 1,016,000 6,096,000 1,699,000 1,840,000 $1,217,000 63,000 140,000 219,000 76,000 83,000 8,000 Lubricating oils and tar " Paraffin wax pounds Axle-grease " $1,806,000 Total crude oil used gallons 24,965,000 IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF OIL AND ITS PRODUCTS. 1895. Imports. Exports. Quantity. Value. Value. Illuminating oils gallons Crude and lubricating oils " Paraffin wax pounds Paraffin wax candles. ... " 6,471,000 1,107,000 164,000 19,000 1 $525,000 12,000 2,500 $3,000 • • • • • • • • 156 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. PRODUCTION OP PETROLEUM IN THE WORLD, 1894. In Metric Tons of ii,'Ji04 Iba. \. United States 6,168,000 2. Uiissia 4,873,000 3. Austria 132,000 4. Cunacb 116,000 5. Iloumania 75,000 6. India (1893) .. 31,000 7. Germany 17,000 8. Japan 15,000 9. Italy 3,000 — RothweWn ** Min. InduHtry." Literature.— Ontario : Geol. Sur. Reports, 1863, 1860, Q, S and S S, V. 1890-91 ; Min. Ros. Ont., 1890. Gaspe : Geol. Sur. K, 1888. K<.()tenay : Geol. Sur. 1891, 9 A. Athabasca : Gool. Sur., 144 S, 1890-91. Bibliograi)hy : Rep. Q, 1890 , Canadian Mining Manual, 1896. For complete description of the petro- leum industry, see Crew, "Practical Treatise on Petroleum," 1887. For geology of petroleum, see Orton, An. Rep. U. S. Geol. Sur., 1889. NATURAL GAS. Burning springs have been known in many localities in North America from the earliest settlement, but with few exceptions, as at Fredonia, N.Y., no use was made of them. After the discovery of oil, large quantities of gas were frequently found in drilling for the former. For a number of years, however, even these bountiful supplies failed to attract attention. In 1879 gas was introduced into a Pittsburg factory, and from that time on its economic importance has been fully recognized and deposits of it eagerly sought. Few parts of North America are entirely destitute of reservoirs of gas, but the productive wells are almost entirely in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Ontario. Some gas fields are intimately associated THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 157 }ven In and een ght. e of ost ana VVVvi witli petroleum deposits, and the gas is doubtless of the same origin. In Ohio the Trenton limentono is the great reservoir, but in Ontario that formation is almost barren. It is in the Medina and Clinton divisions of the Upper Silurian that the Ontario gas is found. The Pennsylvania gas occurs in a still later formation — that of the Upper Devonian. A small amount of ga& is found in the Cretaceous of the North- West. Gas, like oil, has accumulated in porous rocks ^r under the arch of an anticline, overlaid by an imper- vious layer of shale or clay. It is the product of the dis- tillation of plants and animals entombed ii. 8 sedimentary deposit. The distillation has gone on slowly for ages, the gas accumulating under pressure. On tapping the reservoir pressure is relieved and the gas escapes. Millions of cubic feet have been wasted, people not realizing that it was a store easily exhausted. This is well shown in the case of Penn- sylvania, whose production has fallen from $18,000,000 in 1888 to $8,000,000 in 1891. Natural ^ras is a mix- ture of a number of gases, most of whicli r^'e found in ordinary illuminating gases but in a different propor- tion. The following analyses from Sexton's " Fuel " will make this relation clear : Natural Gas. Illuminating Gas. ■ Coal Gas. Water Gas. Carbon dioxicl and nitrogen .... Marsh gas, C H^ Heavy hydrocarbons CiiH an •• Carbon monoxid CO 1.3 95.2 0.5 1.0 2=0 2.1 51.2 13.1 7.8 25.8 2.6 • • • • '20.2 77.2 Hydrogen 11 158 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. Canadian Localities. — Small quantities of gas from superficial deposits are found in many parts of the Dominion. In the North- West Territories some paying wells have been opened along the Canadian Pacific Railway, and on the Athabasca promising indications are found. The only localities of impor- tance ^ , present are in Ontario near the shore of Lake Erie. The Essex field extends east and west for a distance of twelve miles along the coast and for about two miles back. The wells are a little over 1,000 feet in depth, and yield from nothing up to 10,000,000 cubic feet a day. Two pipe lines carry the gas thirty miles to Windsor and Detroit. The other district extends forty-five miles east- ward from Cayuga nearly to the Niagara River. The gas is found in Medina sandstone at a depth of 700 to 850 feet, and issues from the wells under a pressure reaching in some cases to 500 pounds to the aquare inch. Pipe lines are laid through the district, and the wells are connected directly with Buffalo, where most of the gas is consumed. It is also used locally for burning lime and for lighting several towns and villages. Leamington, Out., is said to have reduced its rate of taxation one-half by means oi the revenue derived from supplying the village with gas. In 1895> 123 wells produced in Ontario 3,320,000 M. cubic feet of gas valued at .1283,000. ASPHALT. Asphalt or bitumen is a mixture of various hydro- carbons, some of which are usually oxidized. It is &f THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 169 ydro- t is ^ black or brown solid with a resinous lustre and bitu- minous odor, found as a superficial deposit in many- parts of the world, but usually associated with bitu- minous rocks. Commercial asphalt is largely brought from a pitch lake on the island of Trinidad. Many varieties of asphalt have received distinct mineral- ogical names : of these albertite and maltha occur in economic quantities in Canada. All have been formed from petroleum by the vaporisation of the more volatile hydrocarbons. The immense beds of maltha in Athabasca have been described under petroleum. Albertite is a pitch-like mineral found in the Lower Carboniferous of Kings and Albert counties, New Brunswick. At the Albert mine it occurred in an irregular fissure having a maximum thickness of seventeen feet. The veins are found in or near the Albert shales, a highly bitu- minous, calcareous clay rock with an abundance of fossil fish, and the mineral has apparently resulted from a distillation of this shale. Its compositioiv represented by 58 per cent, of volatile matter and 42 of fixed carbon, made it of great value for gas making, and 200,000 tons were shipped to the eastern United States for that purpose. The locality is now exhausted, Anthraxolite is a name applied to a black combust- ible, coal-like substance found in Ontario and Quebec, which resembles anthracite in general characters. In composition it is essentially carbon, with from three to twenty-six per cent, of volatile matter. It never occurs in beds like coal, but in fissures in limestones, shales 160 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. and sandstones. Dr. Sterry Hunt says, "It can scarcely be doubted that the coaly matters of the Quebec group have resulted from the slow alteration of liquid bitumen in the fissures of the strata." Some of the numerous occurrences may yield a few tons of fuel for local use. A vein at Sudbury is being exploited for this purpose. Bituminous shales are often distilled for oil and gas. Works once existed at Collingwood and Whitby, Ont., for this purpose, but the discovery of petroleum destroyed the industry. Similar rocks were at one time distilled in Albert County, N.B., and in Pictou, N,S. The former yielded 63 gallons of oil and 7,500 feet of gas to the ton. When our petroleum deposits are exhausted these reservoirs of hydrocarbons may once more be of value. Similar rocks supply con- siderable oil in Scotland, competing successfully with American petroleum. Literature. — For description of the wells, production, etc., Geol. Sur. Reports Q 1890, S 1890, SS 1891, S 1892, S 1894 and Rep. Bur. of Mines, Ont. , 1891. Bibliography, Geol. Sur. Q 1890. Origin— Geol. Sur. Rep.Q 1890 and Bur. Mines, 1891. Nat. gas in U.S., Ashbuiner, Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng. Vol. XIV., XV., XVI. Asplialt, Athabasca— Geol. Sur. 64 D 1890, 6 A 1894. Albertite, N.B.— Dawson, Acad. Geol ; Geol. Sur. 1876-7. Anthraxolite— Rep. Geol. Sur. 18 T 1888-9; Bur. Mines, Ont., 1896. SECTION III. ROCKS AND THEIR PRODUCTS. CHAPTER XIV. GRANITE AND SANDSTONE. etc., 1894 Sur. 1891. Vol. 1890, Sur. Bur. Among the materials which the mineral world furnishes for man's use, few are more important than those adapted for building. True, granite and clay and sand are so common to us Canadians that we hardly think of them as contributing to our mineral wealth. Nevertheless, one-quarter of our annual mineral production — that is, a little over $5,000,000 in value — is derived from rocks. A rock has already been defined as a variable mixture of minerals rang- ing in cohesion from loose debris to the most compact stone. Rocks are never the source of our useful motals, nor do they as a general thing yield us valu- able chemical products. Their economic importance lies, for the most part, in their structural adaptability. No other material approaches them in strength or durability. The extent of our forests and the conse- quent cheapness of timber have caused us to neglect our granites and limestones. As lumber increases in price and as the need for more indestructible build- ings grows, there will doubtless be a greater employ- 162 THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. ment of stone. True, many farm-houses are built of boulders, and some of our towns are quite largely erected from limestone quarried in the neighborhood. In both cases cheapness has been the only desidei-a- tum, and durability and beauty have been neglected. Building Stones. — That a rock be useful as a building stone it is necessary that it should be strong and durable. It is also desirable that it be easily quarried and dressed, and that it have beauty of color and texture. Strength and durability depend on several considerations. The finer the structure and the more compactly the grains are consolidated the greater the strength. The kind and amount of cementing material exerts a great influence on both strength and durability. A cement filling all the interstices of a rock will evidently make a stronger stone than one in which the grains are merely held together by their adjacent faces. A siliceous cement is stronger than a calcareous one — a ferruginous than an argillaceous. Again, a porous rock is capable of absorbing consider- able water, and in our cold climate this is a deleterious property. As freezing water expands with enormous power, the outer parts of the stone are slowly forced off*, and ultimately the whole crumbles. According to Merrill a rock which absorbs 10 per cent, of its weight of water in twenty-four hours should usually be dis- carded. Some good sandstones approach this amount ; granites average perhaps one-twentieth as much. Fineness of grain and uniformity of size are con- ducive to durability. In a granite, for instance, under the influence of the sun's heat all the grains expand. THE MINERAL WEALTH OF* CAlJADA. 163 ,con- Inder )and. And since the rate of expansion is different for each of the ingredients, mica, felspar ;ind quartz, a strain is put on the cementing material. Alternate expansion and contraction ultimately results in disintegration. " Dr. Livingstone found in Africa that surfaces of rock which during the day were heated up to 137° F. cooled so rapidly by radiation at night that, unable to sustain the strain of contraction, they split and threw off sharp angular fragments from a few ounces to 100 or 200 pounds in weight." In burning buildings the heat is still greater, and the sudden cooling pro- duced by dashes of cold water tests a stone severely. Granite, of all the rocks, is tlie least fire-proof. Marble and limestone are the least affected where the heat is not sufficient to cause decomposition and where water is absent. With greater heat sandstone is most resistant. Another cause of decay is the presence of injurious accessory minerals. Pyrite is the most common and the most injurious. It slowly unites with oxygen to form the various oxids and hydroxids known as rust. In some cases only the beauty of the stone is marred ; in othei's its sirength is weakened. Ferrous carbonate and small seams of clay are other deleterious minerals. The facility with which d, rock may be worked depends on the hardness of its constituents and on the presence of joints, beds or other natural fractures. A granite is harder to work than a limestone because of the hardness of the quartz and felspar of the former. For a similar reason, also, a siliceous sand- stone is more costly to market than an argillaceous 164 THie MINEilAL WEALTH OF CANADA. one. A rock which cleaves regularly in any direction can be more cheaply produced than one with iiu irregular fracture. In the selection of a building stone lor importa:* r structures durability is of prime importance. The most reliable information can be got by obseiving the effect on old structures. Failing these, an examina- tion of the natural outcrop of the rock will yield informatioD cou'':enj.iDg its weather-resisting pov/er. "If in these expo,?iirc; the edges and angles of the stone remain sharp- if its surface shows no sign of flaking or r^rumbliog, no cracks nor holes where pyrites or clay has lurked, nor dark stains from the change of iron compounds — it may be relied upon for structures if proper care is used to reject suspicious blocks." Much also may be gathered from a micro- scopic examination. Of secondary importance is the stren.i: i h, though this is the property which is most usually tested. Any compact stone has many times the strength usually required. Imperviousness to water would be a more desirable test. For piers of bridges, foundations and other rough purposes, faults of color, coarseness of texture or irregularity of fracture are of no account, and proximity and conse- qijont cheapness will be the condition sought. I'he Crystalline Rocks. — Immense areas of gr^aite and allied rocks are found in Canada — a qur ' iy sufficient to supply all the world with building 3 j.e. The commci^ial terrr ranite includes no^ » / the true granite of the geologist but a number j. elated rocks. Syenite has the general appearazc- « f a ^.aite ated f a THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 165 granite, but is without the quartz of the latter. Both have orthoclase felspar and either mica or hornblende. Gneiss has the same minerals but is schistose in structure. All three are quarried for building pur- poses, and the granite and syenite for monumental stones. They are widely distributed through the whole Dominion, the region of the plains excepted. Granite is expensive to work, and has not yet been used to any extent in Canada as a building stone. It seems, however, quite unnecessary for us to import granite from Scotland for monuments when quite as good stone surrounds us on every side. Quarries have been opened in British Columbia, at Kingston and Gananoque, Ont., in Stanstead, Que., in New Brunswick and in Nova Scotia, from which about 13,000 tons are annually raised, valued at $70,000, These granite rocks, as well as the more basic igneous rocks, diorite, anorthosite, etc., are also used as paving stones. Sand and Sandstone. — The crystalline rocks sic ,viy disintegrate through the action of heat, mois- ture and frost, and the streams carry off the products to deposit them ultimately in some lake or ocean. The particles of quartz are much the most enduring. Felspar mica and hornblende are not only separated from e-v A other by the weathering of the rock, but are 1.^0 decomposed. All three yield clay and some free silica, besides other min; rals. The quartz, though rounded on the edges through long-continued rub- bing, regains pure silica to the last. Thus it is that most rocks, when reduced to fine grains, yield a sand .'■■^ 166 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. which is largely silica. Pure silica is white, and the light yellow color of many sands is due to stains of iron oxid or to a mixture of black grains of the magnetic oxid of iron. Small amounts of undecom- posed mica or felspar may also be found. In a lime- stone region the sands may be calcareous. Clay also may be mixed with the sand. Sands of all kinds are widely distributed over our country, and are in all cases a superficial deposit. Only on rocky hills, swept bare by glacial action, are they lacking. Sandstones are but consolidated sands. They have been formed in ancient seas by the pres- sure of overlying material, and have since been raised above the water. A cement of iron oxid, silica, clay or limestone holds the grains together, and gives a distinctive character to the rock. Some sandstones are almost pure silica ; others through the presence of clay merge into shales ; others again shade gradu- ally into limestones. In some cases these sandstoneii were subjected to heat as well as pressure, and all the materials in them were recrystallized. Pure sand, metamorphosed in this way, became the solid white quartzite so common in our Huronian districts. A sand with mica became a mica schist ; one with fel- spar and mica became a gneiss, and so the cycle was completed from igneous rock back to igneous. Sandstones are usually bedded, the planes of strati- fication representing intervals in the deposit of sand on the ocean floor. The deposit of one period became somewhat consolidated before the next supply ot material was brought down. The beds are sometimet; THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. 167 but a fraction of an inch in thickness, at others several feet. The thicker beds which split readily in any direction are known as freestone. In the very dawn of geological history sands were being deposited in Canada as they are to-day. Con- solidated and metamorphosed they form the quartzite of the Huronian. Above them lie sandstones of Cambrian age. Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Triassic, Cretaceous and Miocene times contributed their quota of sandy sediments. So through the whole Dominion sandstones are abundant and cheap. They are used extensively for building ; also as flag- stones, furnace linings, grindstones and whetstones. As powdered stone or as the natural sand, quartz is also used for mortar, glass, moulding and polishing. Building Stone. — In the Maritime Provinces there are considerable areas of good freestone in the Lower Carboniferous rocks. The stone is soft enough to be readily cut when first quarried, but hardens on ex- posure. Red, yellow, light grey and beautiful olive- green beds are found. The stone is not only used domestically but also exported. The chief quarries are at Dorchester, Hopewell, and neighboring Io^aV* ties in Westmoreland and Albert counties. New Brunswick. Amherst, Wallace and Pictou in Nova Scotia also produce good stone, some of which is exported. The magnificent court-house of Toronto, Ontario constructed of New Brunswick stone. In Qv. /oec a sandstone of the Potsdam or Upper Cambrian period affords an excellent building stone. It is almost white in color and very hard and durable. 168 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. Itil It is quarried, among of.^ f pVu os, at St. Scholastique and at Hemraingfoi'!, ap.r] asjd in Montreal. It has also been used succn.«^:ifuliy at St. Maurice as a furnace lining. Near Quebec and Levis the Sillery sandstone is quarried and used quite extensively in both cities. It is usually a green or greyish^i-een rock, though Oft the coast below L'Islet there are beds of a purplish-re r color. The rock does not weather uni- formly, noi is it as durable as the Potsdam stone. Some Silurian sandstones have been quarried in Gasp^ for railway work. The Potsdam sandstone of Quebec occurs on the south of the Ottawa River in Ontario, and here, also, has been extensively used. Considerable was quar- ried in Nepean township for the national Parliament Buildings at Ottawa. Farther to the west a band of Medina sandstone outcrops along the Niagara es- carpment, which stretches from Queenston Heights past Hamilton to Cabot's H^ad. It is quarried at a number of places, priT>cipally along the Credit River. The stone occurs in both white and red beds, the latter being the more valuable. It is very extensively used in western Ontario — the Parliament Baildings at Toronto being a good example of the appearance of the red variety. A similar re(' st>^iie of Cambrian age occurs in the Nipigon forr. "^ior on the north- west of Lake Superior It ha? beei* shipped from Vertr Tsland to Chicago and other lake cities. In British Columbia freestone of Cretaceous age may be quarried at many points along the coast. Some excellent material for building has been ob- THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 169 tained near Nanaimo. A white freestone of the same age is quarried at Calgary, Alberta. Other Uses. — Flagstones have been obtained at most of the localities just described, and at many others. Material suitable for grindstones has been quarried at Seaman's Cove and other points in Nova Scotia, and in Albert and Westmoreland counties, New Brunswick. Some grindstones and coarse whet- stones are made from he Medina in Nottawasaga, Ontario, and the Cretaceous of Nanaimo, British Columbia, is used for the same purpose. The total annual production of grindstones is valued at about $40,000, of which one-half is exported, chiefly from Nova Scc' ia. The imports about equal the exports. Sand for mortar-making should consist of sharp pngular grains of quartz of somewhat coarse texture. ♦ /hen an impure mixture of sand and clay is used the ni' tar frequently crumbles. Good material is widely distributed in the superficial deposits. Sand for moulding is not at all plentiful. It is an " intimate mixture of quartz sand ^v^ith just sufficient proportions of clay and ochre to enable it lo retain the form given by the pattern." A good nujulding sand contains about 92 per cent, of fine quartz sand, 6 per cent, of clay, and 2 per cent, of iron oxid. For fine castings, artificial mixtures are often prepared. Suitable sand is found at several places in Ontario and Nova Scotia. From Windsor, N.S., a small amount is annually exported. Ordinary glass is made from quartz sand, sodium carbonate and lime. Except for the coarser varieties " ■,'^^. , ^ . ,_ . . ■ 170 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. of glass, a fine, angular white sand is needed, free from all impurities, especially iron. Ordinary bottles have a green tint due to the iron of the sand. Many pure sands are found in the Dominion, and several sandstones could be crushed and used. The Potsdam sandstone was at one time used at Vaudreuil. ' Sand is further used as an abrasive in sawing and polishing sandstone and marble. Tripolite, or infusorial earth, is also used as a polishing material under the name of "silex, electro-silicon," etc. It consists of the microscopic siliceous shells of diatoms and other minute water plants. Though each indi- vidual was so small, beds thirty feet thick have been formed extending over considerable areas. Many deposits are known in Canada, from which over 600 tons valued at $10,000 were taken in 1896. Tripolite was at one time used as an absorbent of nitro- glycerine, and is now employed in the manufacture of water filters. Literature. — Merrill, '* Stones for Building and Decoration," gives a full account of the properties of building stones and of methods of working. For details of Canadian quarries, see Dawson, Acadian Geology ; Geol. Can., 1863 ; Min. Res. Ont., 1890; Bur. Mines, Ont., 1891; Rep. R., Geol. Sur., 1887; Rep. S., 1894. For localities of various sands, tripolite, etc., see Cat. Sec. 1 of the Museum of the Geol. Sur. CHAPTER XV. CLA Y AND SLATE. of Among mineral materials few are more important than common clay, although it is so widely distributed that we often forget our great dependence upon it It ministera to our wants in numerous and in very diverse ways, the products often bearing no apparent relationship to one another. Sun-dried bricks and porcelain dishes are entirely different in appearance. Clear, transparent china bears little resemblance to drain-tile, and yet all four are essentially the one thing — clay. The manufacture of rude pottery was one of the first arts practised in the dawn of civiliza- tion, and ceramics has advanced step by step with man's development. The value of our clay output to-day is only exceeded by that of our coal. Origin and Composition, — Clay is not an original mineral, but the product of decay — the result of the passage from an unstable compound to a stable one. The felspars which are found abundantly in igneous rocks are easily attacked by water and carbonic acid. They are all silicates of aluminum, with potassium, sodium or calcium. The potassium felspar, orthoclase, is the most abunds^ni This mineral, and the others I 172 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. as well, lose their alkaline constituents together with some of their silica, and take up water. The alkali goes off in solution, and the silica and hydrous silicate of aluminum are left. This last, when pure, is known as kaolin. Its composition is represented by HgAlg (8104)2 + HgO, or silica 47, alumina 39, water 14 per cent. Usually there is mixed with it some quartz and mica of the rock, some undecomposed felspar par- ticles, and some oxid of iron, calcium carbonate and alkalies, the accessory products of decomposition. Commercial clay may be the pure kaolin or any of the numerous mixtures possible. In some of the best clays kaolin is much the largest ingredient ; in others, considerably less than half. It is the essential con- stituent — the other minerals are but accessories, and often injurious ones. Quartz, in the form of fine sand intimately mixed with the kaolin, is the most common impurity. By itself in a clay, silica is chemically inert but acts physically, checking shrink- age and cracking when the kaolin is highly heated. When potash, soda or lime are present the silica unites chemically with them at high temperatures, forming fusible compounds which give strength and hardness to the pottery. Some of thr u^lkalies are nearly always present — potash most commonly. Magnesia often replaces lime. Iron, either as an oxid, carbonate or sulfid, is the most undesirable impurity and is nearly alwayc present. Sometimes it does not con- stitute more than one-fifth of 1 per cent. ; more frequently it makes two to ten per cent, or mo ^ • of the clay. ; f '^.T'Tft', THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 173 ning ness 3arly nesia 3n&te d is con- more «of Clays resulting from the decomposition of felspars in place are classed as residual clays. They nearly all contain quartz, which is easily removed by wash- ing. They often exist as a crumbling rock resem- bling granite. The chief characteristic of this residual, or rock, kaolin is its non-plasticity. These residual clays are, of course, subject to the erosive and trans- porting action of water, and immense beds of sedi- mentary clays have been deposited in quiet waters since the beginning of geological history. They are always more or less impure and are generally highly plastic, a property probably due to the rubbing the particles have undergone. They form the chief basis of the world's clay industries. Those deposited in Palaeozoic times have, for the most part, been consolidated into shales, and many of them have even been metamorphosed into slates. The latter have censed to have a value in ceramics, but tVie former are very widely used, after being ground and allowed to weather. The Carboniferous period furnishes a valuable refractory clay. Creta- ceous, Tertiary and Quaternary clays are extensively used in America. In the last era ice, not water, was instrumental in producing deposits of clay which are not residual. Boulder clay, as it is called from the angular stones it contains, resembles sedimentary clay in its composition and properties, but lacks stratification. Uses. — " The chief function of clay in the fictile arts is its partial fusion upon firing, and upon this and the skill of the artisan who fires the kiln depends 12 174 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. the product, which is wonderfully varied by the mixtures of fluxes and tempering material. Plasticity is desirable for the handling of the unfired material. Nearly all unconsolidated or powdered rock material may be made to adhere by water and other ingredi- ents than clay, so that it can be shaped for burning, but plastic clay is the cheapest material used for this purpose in all clay-burning." (Hill, Min. Res. U.S., 1891.) Clay is used in the manufacture of a number of domestic utensils, as porcelain, China and earthen ware. As a structural material it finds employment as brick, terra cotta, roofing tile, draining tile, door knobs and sewer pipe. In the industrial arts it is used as a lining for kilns, furnaces and retorts ; for crucibles, for moulding-material, as a base for pig- ments, for filling paper, and even as a food adulterant. Commercially clay may be divided into four classes, depending partly on composition and partly on use. Chemical composition is not the sole guide in deter- mining the value of a clay, for those almost identical in composition often yield different products' on firing. 1. China clays are nearly pure kaolin and non- plastic. They are nearly always ground and washed before use, but should be free from iron and lime. Mixed with felspar and silica they are used to make China ware. Cornwall, Limoges in France, and Dres- den in Germany have important deposits of these rare clays. 2. Plastic, bal] or pottery clays are the essential material of bricks, pottery and stone ware. The '"''fvy THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 175 jntial The purer ones are China clays in composition, but v^ill not yield the same products on firing. These clays are used in the production of earthen ware, etc., and to give plasticity to China clays in the manufacture of China ware. Deposits near St. John, Que., are used extensively in the production of porcelain. 3. Brick clays include those suited not only for the manufacture of bricks, but also of drain tile and the cruder kinds of stone ware. They are most widely distributed of all, and, probably, are moat important economically. Ideal brick clay consists of a mixture of fine sand and pure plastic clay, the pro- portions of which may vary very widely. A good clay consists of three-fifths silica, one-fifth alumina, and the remainder of iron, lime, soda, potash, mag- nesia and water. Iron is present in most brick clays and is the basis of color. Red bricks are produced from white clay by the oxidation of the iron from the ferrous to the ferric compound. Still, as is well known, the color may be modified by difierences in the temperature of the kiln. White bricks are often supposed to be due to the lack of iron in the clay, but the correct reason seems to be that these clays contain lime or magnesia, which unites with the iron and with silica to form a colorless silicate. Vitrified bricks are being introduced into C.'ir»ada as a paving material. They offer ail the advantages of asphalt and are considerably cheaper. A vitrified brick may be described as a piece of clay heated to incipient fusion, so that all the particles have been 176 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. fritted together and the pores have become closed. Its excellence is measured by the degree with which water is excluded. To be suitable for this purpose a clay must agglutinate or vitrify some distance below its point of fusion, otherwise in the firing much of the product will be destroyed by melting. Several companies are making these bricks near Toronto. All of these clays are widely distributed through the Dominion. The shales of the Hudson River and Medina epochs are used in Ontario to make a very fine pressed brick. Sewer pipe, drain tile and pottery are made at so many points that it is useless to enumerate. 4. The refractory, or fire-clays, form the last divi- sion. Alkaline fluxes are here present in very small quantities. Pure kaolins are desirable as the base of the mixture, which is usually made artificially. The Cretaceous clays of New Jersey and the Carboniferous under-claya are often suitable. A number of fire- clays of fair value occur in the rocks of the latter period in Nova Scotia. The production of these materials in 1895 was valued, as follows : Building brick, $1,670,000; terra, cotta, $195,100; sewer pipe, etc., $257,000; pottery, $151,600; fire-clay, $3,500; a total of $2,277,200. In the same year the imports amounted to $593,300, most of which was for earthen ware. Slate. — When a bed of cla / or shale is subjected to great pressure and heat its physical characters are changed. The laminae become smooth and hard, and microscopic crystals are often developed throughout THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 177 )d to are and hout the fraginental material. Minute flakes of mica are usually present, their flat surfaces being parallel to the face of the lamina. The well-developed cleavage is rarely parallel to the original plane of bedding, but is at right angles to the direction from which the pressure came. Under this pressure the component grains of the original sediment rearranged them- selves with their longest axes at right angles to the direction of force, and so made new planes of cleavage. A number of varieties of clay slate are recognized. Roofing slate includes the finest-grained, compact kinds used for roofing houses, for mantels and table- tops, for slates and pencils, etc. Whet-slate or hone- stone is a hard, fine-grained siliceous rock. Phyllites embrace the thoroughly metamorphosed shales char- acterized by the development of much mica and the recrystallization of the materials. These slates are found in the majority of the geological horizons, but the Huronian, Cambrian, Silurian and Devonian formations contain them most frequently. Good roofing slates are found in Canada in the Cambrian rocks, east of the St. Lawrence. Quarries are worked at New Rockland, Shipton, and near Richmond, all in Richmond county, Quebec. A number of other quarries have been opened in neigh- boring counties, but the demand does not justify their operation. The usual color is dark or bluish-grey, but green, red and purple ones are found. The best class cleave readily, are " free from pyrites, imper- vious to water, and equal in every respect to the "7/j, 178 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. celebrated Welsh slates." Roofing slates, slabs and school slates are produced in this district. The pro- duct in 1895 was valued at $59,000, about one-half that of 1889. The imports in 1895 amounted to $19,000, also about half of the corresponding figures for 1889. A small amount is annually exported. Literature. — "Clay Materials," by Hill, in Min. Resources (jf r.S., 1891, contains a good description of the kinds and uses f clay. See also Geol. Can., 1863. "Brick Clays of Que.,'^ 3;.ep. Geol. Sur., IV. 188 K ; "Brick Clays of Ont.," Bur. of MiiK "lep., 1891, 1893, 1895. The report of 1893 contains a chapter on vitrified brick. "Fire Clay of N.S.," Rep. Geol. Sur., y. 1890, 190 P; "Slate of Que." Rep. Geol. Sur., IV. 1888 K. nd ro- alf to res CHAPTER XVI. •ces ises e., '. of IS a eol. IV. LIMESTONE. Origin and Occurrence.— Limestone is one of the most widely distributed rocks occurring in all the sedimentary formations from the Cambrian down to recent times. It is found even in Archaean areas as great bands of crystalline material which are meta- morphosed sediments. Geographically its distribu- tion is as wide as it is geologically, and every province but Prince Edward Island has its own supplies. The only large areas of the Dominion destitute of it are some of the districts covered by the igneous Archaean rocks. It has always been deposited as a sediment, some- times as a chemical precipitate, much more frequently as a bed composed of the fragments of the shells and skeletons of lime-secreting animals. As is well known, gravel and sand derived from the land are deposited near the shore and the lighter mud carried farther out. Beyond this, where sediments from the land were rarely brought, the bottom of the old ocean beds was slowly built up by the calcareous remains of dead molluscs, crinoids, corals and other organisms. The process can be watched to-day on the coast of 180 THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. Florida, and time and the pressure of superin- cumbent beds are alone needed to transform the loose shell deposits of that peninsula into solid lime- stone. Consolidation and recrystallization are pro- moted by the easy solution and precipitation of calcium carbonate in waters carrying carbonic acid. Often these deposits were made when mud or sand was being laid down, so that beds of limestone and shale or of limestone and sandstone are now found to alternate with one another, and even to pass by gradual changes from one into the other. A pure limestone consists of calcium and carbonic acid, that is, it is the mineral calcite (CaCOs). Frequently the calcite is replaced by dolomite, an isomorphous mix- ture of calcium and magnesium carbonates. Silica, clay, oxids of iron and bituminous matter are often present as impurities. The color is commonly a dull white to a blue-grey, but may be brown or black. Few rocks vary more in texture than limestone. It may be a hard compact rock with a choncoidal frac- ture ; it may consist of crystalline grains resembling loaf sugar in texture and color ; it may be an earthy, friable deposit, or a compact rock resembling a close- grained sandstone. In all cases it is easily scratched with a knife, and gives a vigorous effervescence M'hen treated with hydrochloric acid. Uses. — Limestone is probably the most valuable of all our structural materials, for not only is it an excellent buildir^g stone itself, but it also affords the most useful cement for holding all other building materials together. It is employed not only in tlie ' ' f y, THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 181 of an .he ng } »e farm-house but in 'r.e city cathedral ; it is used not only for the outer walls but also as marble for the decoration of the interior. It is used for bridges and culverts in railway construction, and for the concrete foundations of city pavements. As a flux in the smelting of iron it finds a large employment, over 30,000 tons being annually used in Canada alone, where the iron industry is not a large one. Some fine vai ieties are used as lithographic stones. Marl, an amorphous mixture of calcium carbonate, clay and sand is a valuable fertilizer (See Chapter XVII.) Chalk, a soft earthy variety of limestone not found in Canada, is used by carpenters and others for marking; perfectly purified and mixed with vege- table coloring matters, it forms pastil colors. Whiting is a purified chalk used as a pigment and as a polish- ing material. The desirable qualities in a lir^ stone to be used for structural purposes have already been pointed out (Chapter XIV.), and it is only necessary to indicate here some of the important localities where stone occurs. Limestone is so widely distributed through- out the Palaeozoic areas of southern Ontario and Quebec, and of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, that it is useless to attempt an enumeration of the places where it is quarried. The lowest horizon to furnish valuable stone is the Chazy, which is extensively quarried at St. Dominique, Phillipsburg and Montreal Island. The Trenton limestones, occurring in the neighborhood of Montreal, also 'urnish tliat city with excellent building stone, in i utario, the Niagara 18*> THE MINERAL Vi^EALTtt OP CANADA. formation is worked at a number of places along Uie escarpment which enters the Province at Queenston and passes by Hamilton and Owen Sound to Mani- toulin Island and into Michigan. Stone from Queen- ston, Thorold, Beamsville and Grimsby has been extensively used in the Welland canal, the St. Clair tunnel, and railway construction tliroughout the Pro- vince. The Corniferous also gives a valuable stone where exposed. Quarries near Amherstburg furnished material for the Sault Ste. Marie canal. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Carboniferous limestone of excellent quality is widely spread, and is quarried in a number of places. Marble. — The term marble is properly applied to a crystalline aggregate of calcite grains of uniform size, and each of v liich is composed of twin crystals with their own cleavage lines. It has been produced by the recrystallization of ordinary sedimentary lime- stone in situ, occasioned by the heat of eruptive rocks and the pressure of overlying masses. Typical mar- ble is white, but it may be yellow, green, blue, black, banded or mottled. Sometimes it is very fine-grained, as in the best statuary marbles ; again it may be so coarse as not to take a good polish, and so be useless for ornamental purposes. Mica, garnet, tremolite and many other species of silicates are frequently found in it, a result of the recrystallization of siind and clay impurities in the original limestone. Commercially, the term marble is applied to any lime- stone, crystalline or non-crystalline, which is suscep- tible of a polish, and is suited in texture and color for THE MINERAL WEALTH OP CANADA. 18,1 ;ep" for ornamental work. It is even made to U- -ude serpen- tine, when this ma^iesium silicate is found in masses suitable for decoration. On tb ^ contrary, impure n to be of value mestones, and etamorphism, marbles and those of too coa> se for dc( orative work are claas<^ used for structural purposes. True marbles are found in regiunfe particularly in the Laurentian u-ieas in Canada^ From the Georgian Bay east to the Ottawa valley are scores of bands of crystalline limestone interbedded, with gneiss and other schists. These have been worked to a small extent at a number of places, as at Madoc, Bridgewater, Renfrew and Arnprior in Ontario. Across the Ottawa it is found in Hull, Grenville and other places. A very fine marble of similar age is quarried at West Bay, Cape Breton. At Echo Lake, near the St, Mary River, Ontario, a close-grained lime- stone of Huronian age has been worked to some extent. It is composed of thin, alternate bands of grey and colored stone, and takes an excellent polish. In the metamorphic rocks of the Eastern Townships marble is quarried for local use at several places. At Dudswell a rock of Silurian age is entirely composed of organic rem^ains, principally corals, which when polished presents a beautifully marked surface. The Eozo<5n limestone, which consists of an intimate and irregular mixture of white calcite and green serpen- tine, gives a handsome effect when polished. It is found in the Laurentian rocks in Grenville and Templeton, Que, and is supposed by some to be the remains of the earliest known animal. Serpentine, 1 ■'! '> IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 1^1^ |25 ■^ l&i 12.2 !£ 1^ 12.0 — iJil 11^ lllllM m ^ which is of Jurassic age. Several quarries have THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. 185 m, in- nt. or ch le a, d es of 1 e> e been opened, an'^ trial shipments kave shown some of the stone to be of excellent quality. Mortar and Cement. — Among the mineral cements there are none which approach in importance those which consist of lime or some of its compounds. Ordinary mortar is made from quick-lime and sharp clean sand, its cementing qualities depending chiefly on the formation of calcium carbonate by the absorp- tion of carbonic acid from the atmosphere. At the same time calcium silicate, which forms very slowly, considerably strengthens the cement after a number of years. Both ordinary limestone and dolomite are converted into lime by heating in kilns until the carbonic acid has been expelled. The first yields " hot " limes, the latter " cool " limes, so called from the relative amounts of heat developed in slacking. Both form good mortars, although the magnesium limes slack less rapidly and set more slowly. Both varieties are extensively made in Canada, particu- larly where other limestone industries are established. Every province except Prince Edward Island has its own supplies, the total product being valued at $700,000 in 1895. Ordinary lime like that just described, which is made from nearly pure material, will not harden if immersed in water, but if made from a rock con- taining considerable clay it has this valuable pro- perty. Such a lime is properly called a cement, and it may be a natural or a Portland one, according as it is made from natural rock or an artificial mixture. A hydraulic limestone consists, then, of calcium or 186 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. magnesium carbonate mixed with fifteen to thirty- five per cent, of clay and a little alkali. Such a rock on being strongly heated forms a double sili- cate of calcium and aluminum, a compound capable of uniting with water to form a hard, crystalline compound, even when immersed. Hydraulic limestones are widely distributed, and are converted into natural cement at a number of places. The rock is burned in kilns like ordinary lime, and then, since it does not slack at all with water, or very slowly, it is ground to a fine powder. The product often lacks uniformity, for the chemical composition* of the beds of a quarry vary greatly. For this reason artificial cements are oft-^a6(N^ I -2 pq I g 1 (4 O pq » ^ I ;^ ^ ^ CO CO Q (§ S fa ^ ci 4) Ha s o pq ^ a eS I I s FH e< ct 44 I i £ I a a s sis ^ ^ ^ ,3 43 43 o o o <0 t> 00 196 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. The fourth is a good rich soil, though a little low in lime. Nos. 5, 6 and 7 are soils of average fertility, somewhat deficient in lime. Geological Fertilizers.— Continual cropping slowly removes from the soil tho mineral ingredients on which its fertility depends. True, in good farming, a portion of these are returned in the manure, but every bushel of grain and every animal that leaves the farm carries with it some of the original phosphoric acid and potash. It is of the highest importance that these be returned to the soil in some cheap and eflBcacious way. A number of mineral substances are found, which either native or after chemical treatment are available for this purpose. Apatite, the geological occurrence of which has been described in an earlier chapter, is an important source of phosphoric acid. Treated with sulfuric acid it is partially changed to a soluble phosphate. Commer- cial superphosphates are a mixture of calcium sulfate, calcium phosphate and calcium acid phosphate, the last of which is the valuable ingredient because of its solubility. Phosphates are especially useful as a top dressing for root crops. In connection with nitro- genous fertilizers they are also a benefit to cereals. Guano and green-sand marls are other sources of phosphoric acid, which, however, are not found in Canada. Nitrogen, the essential f eiiiilizer of the cereals, may be obtained from three sources. Chemical compounds, such as nitrate of soda and sulfate of ammonia, are very useful because of their solubility, but they are TH£ mineral wealth of CANADA. 197 expensive. The first occurs as Chili saltpetre, the second is a by-product in the manufacture of coal gas. A second source is the nitrogen of the air, which can be assimilated only by leguminous plants like clover and pease. If these are ploughed under while green, a store of nitrogen is laid up for future crops. A third source is the semi-decomposed vegetable matter of muck, leaf -mould and peat. The nitrogen of these is converted into assimilable forms by fer- mentatioi:, a process which is aided by composting the material with barnyard manure. 7Jhese mucks and peats are widely distributed through the whole Dominion. Many analyses are given in the reports of the Experimental Farms, the average number of pounds of nitrogen to the ton being thirty eight. There is unfortunately no mineral source of potash in Canada. The only available supply is that stored in our forests. Wood ashes, which contain from seven to twelve per cent, of potash, are the mineral constitu- ents which the trees by a life-long process have taken from the soil. As they also contain considerable quantities of lime, phosphoric acid and other inorganic plant food, they are among the most valuable of fertilizers. To continue to export them, as in the past, is suicidal. Lime may be supplied from several sources. Ground gypsum or landplaster is valuable not only as food, but for liberating potash and absorbing ammonia. The crude gypsum is widely distributed, and in the manufacture of superphosphates calcium sulfate is made as a by-product. Ordinary quick-lime, besides 7' 198 THE MINERAL WEALTH OF CANADA. affording nourishment makes clay soils lighter and sweetens damp and peaty ones. Marl is another source of lime very widely distributed, acting like quick-lime but more slowly. It is essentially carbonate of calcium, with more or less clay. Mussel mud is much used on Prince Edward Island, where lime is frequently lacking. A number of other fertilizers not directly of mineral origin may be passed over. Those briefly enumerated here may, by judicious use, be made to increase the productive capacity of the soil. Questions of expense compared with returns received, of the mode and amount of application, etc., belong to agriculture rather than to economic geology, and cannot be discussed here. Literature. — Origin of Soils: Geikie, "Geology"; Shaler, Il«p. U.S. Geol. Sur., XII. 1892. Analyses of Soils and Fertili- zers : Shutt, Annual Reports of Experimental Farm, Ottawa. w A APPENDIX. Summary of the Minbbal PRODaorioN or Canada in 1894 and 1896. . Calendar Years. Produot. 1894. 1895. Quantity. Value. Quantity. Value. Metallic. Copper (fine in ore, etc.). lbs. Gold oz. L:on ore tons. Lead (fine in ore, etc.). lbs. Mercury n Nickel (fine, in ore, etc. ). » Platinum oz. 7,737.016 58,058 109,991 5,703,222 $735,017 1,042,055 226,611 185,356 8,789,162 92,448 102,797 23,075,892 $949,229 1,910,900 238,070 749,966 2,343 4,907,430 1,870,958 950 634,049 3,888,625 1,360,984 3,800 Silver (fine, in ore, etc ) n 847,697 1.776,683 1,168,633 Total metallic $4,594,995 • ••••• •••• $6,373,926 Non-Metallic. Arsenic (white) tons. Asbestos II Chromite n Coal... II Coke 1, Fireclay h Grindstones m Gjrpsum Limestone for flux .... n Lithographic stone » Manganese ore i Mica 7 7,630 1,000 3,867,742 58,044 539 3,757 223,631 35,101 180 74 $420 420.825 20,000 8,499,141 148,551 2,167 32,717 202,031 34,347 30,000 4,180 45,581 2,830 8,690 100,040 12,428 8,766 3,177 3,513,496 53,356 1,329 3,476 226,178 34,679 $368,175 41,301 7,727,446 143,047 3,492 31,932 202,608 32,916 2,000 126 8,464 65,000 Mineral pigments- Baryta tons. Ochres h Mineral water galls. Moulding sand tons. 1,081 611 661,460 6,214 1,339 739,382 6,766 14,600 126,048 13,630 200 APPENDIX. Summary of the Mineral Production of Canada.— Continued Product. Non-metcUlic. Natural gas Petroleum brls. Phosphate (apatite) tons. Precious stones Pyrites tons. Quartz Salt tons. Soapstone ,. . «i Whiting brls. Structural materials and day products — Bricks M. Building stone Cement, natural .... brls. do Portland .... " Flagstones sq. ft. Granite tons. Lime bush. Marble tons. Pottery Roofing cement ....tons. Sands and gravels, ex- ports II Sewer pipe Slate tons. Terracotta h Tiles M. 7 Calendar Years. 1804. Quantity. 829,104 7,290 40,627 Value. 1895. Quantity. Value. $313,764 836,322 43,740 1,600 121,681 Total non-metallic . do metallic Estimated value of min- t eral products not re- turned Total 67,199 916 600 108,142 162,700 16,392 816 324,666 728,666 1,822 34,198 170,687 1,640 760 1,800,000 1,200,000 144,637 6,298 109,936 ♦900,000 62,376 475 '308,836 128,294 80,006 19,238 *5,225,000 200 162,144 3,978 86,940 250,325 75,660 65,600 200,000 $16,067,330 4,594,996 297,675 $20,950,000 277,162 49,200 $423,032 1,090,520 9,666 102,694 160,456 2,138 1,670,000 •1,096,000 173,675 6,687 84,838 700,000 2,000 161,588 3,153 118,359 257,045 58,900 195,123 210,000 $16,295,231 6,373,925 330,844 $22,000,000 'Partly estimated. ^f^ ; ■ / APPENDIX. 201 TOTAL PRODUCTION. '' 1887 $12,500,000 1888 13,500,000 1889 14,500,000 • 1890 18,000,000 1891 20,500,000 1892 19,500,000 1893 19,250,000 1894 20,950,000 1895 22,000,000 1896 23,600,000* Total for ten years $184,300,000 * Partly e8timat«d. The following table, compiled from figures published in Rothwell's " Mineral Industry," shows the relative standing in 1895 of the countries named in the pro- duction of some of the important minerals. In several cases countries are surpassed by others not named in the table: ■ • a s u • 1 1 ^ P4 ^ • g • 1 1 43 OD < 6 6 ^ s 1— t h3 g ^ u Austria Australia . . . , Belgium , Canada France , Germany ... Great Britain Mexico Russia , Spain United States 7 10 2 8 5 7 10 9 3 6 4 11 1 2 7 3 8 6 4 ■ • 1 9 5 2