ifv^ ^.ej>uu, iread and Director Geolo.ji.cal Survey Department. Siu.— I bf;ir ((. present lierowith a wuari .,.> .... i .M-«,..ie ,„„i v„.„„ ,,, ,..a„:i::r:;:'',:, -' i;r:;:;,;;;';;. ■n-l. Lcti,,-. s,:„-,i„g f;„. win, ,.i " ■ ? "',' ''""'""" "•■'" -v.., I, fo,.a.c.o„.l.„t„„„,. a,W . U, „ , , "'"' ",'"""'""« ""• ■K-ncv, wi,,, wl„„„ . ,,a,,„d ,1,. ,vi,„„,, ,o Mr. 11,11, of I ,., '" contact. I havo also to thank tho Hi If,.,- n; i t> . A..hde.on McDonald and tho C mI.. r:! J t ':. rr^li: ^ I^!:- H.onary Soc.oty. for ready a.s.sistan.o an.l advice. ' It may be mentioned hero that tho Into date at whi..l, ti • r have tho honoi- to ho, Sir, Vour ol)ediont servant, GEOLootcAL .SuRVEv Ofpice, May <)th, 18IU. ^^" '■■ ^^^'^^^'?''''*='''- 31-7 2 15 if r.- r N a <1 f \ ) REPORT OX AN KXI'I, ORATION IN THE YUKON AM) MACKKNZIK IJAsiXs. BV K. <.. MrCONNKLL, B.A. X.W.T. t Inthoduction ANi. Summary of Pa.JOEEi.rNos. n lo. tlu. , ne.(.un ,., I„, ,;. m. Daw.son in connection wi, I. ,1... Vuioparate.l (mm th.. m.Min party on tl... •'5tl. I,,,,,. I.St .„ ,, ," ■ ' >o...c.an. F.,anl R.v,.,.. with i„s,. -actions ,o .ie,s..end .he I.ianI '""" "■'^"•• and m ko a goolo^..al examinatinn of ,he valley, a.ul with ,lisc,vtion- •'-3 'Hic-s when ih.s was accomplished, either ,o winter !„ the .^nry.,,. continue the explonUion the .Wlowin. summer, r : 1- ... u-ay ,.u, l,y .Slave. River and the Athahasea and return to O. a , e .same .season. Both of these plans proved feasible, but as as able to malber , ..eturned to Fort ...-ovidenee and went into winJir •^ Annual Report Oe-loKioal Survey ol Canada. Vol. iiL 6d (iEOI.OdlCAt. ANIi NAXrRAI, IIIHTORY stUViCY OK caNAHA. Work (luriiiK wiiiler. IiOUVP I'dft Provideiicr. Trip IIP Kat Rivir. Iicscciul tlio I'd cupiiie. Kxploiatiny work was noci'HMU'ily siisiMiiiiuil iliiring tlio itiratcr part of th»' winter, but roii^li travophO" wuro iiuulo at iritoiviiU to Lake Hih-tnho, Fort J?ae, ami other placoM in the vicinity of Fort I'roviilonoe, and while htayin^' at the pOHt ineteorologii-a! ol'HervatioiiH wt-rr n«- coiiicd twice a day. I left Fort I'rovideneo un the 1st of May, IHSS, travolliny on tlie ice with do;;H, and reached Fort iSim)woii, at the month of the l.iard, on the (Ith. where I remained until the river heeamc sntlieiently I'vct' from ice to allow lravellin<^ hy boat. The river broke n\> on the Kith ol.May. but continutHi full ot floating drift ice all the month. On the 28th of May, having had a boat built at Fort Simpson in the mean- time, I left that |M)>t, acrompanied by two Indians and -pent about a month defending and exaniining the valley of the Mucken/ie as tar as the mouth of the Peel, and in ascending the latter river to Fori Mc- pherson. Heie a delay of a few daj's, caused by the non-arrival at the expectetl time ot" the Mackenzie Rivei- boat, on which 1 depended for some supplies, eruibied me to make a -hort e.xploi ator}' trip up Kat {{iver to the mountain>. On the I2th of .luly, the >[u('kon/ie bout not having then arrived, ami it being uneerluin Imw much longer it would bo delayed. 1 decided to risk obtaining HUpplies at Ratupart House on the P(ucupine, rather than waste any more of the short summer >casou, and started across the Rocky Mountains by what is called tiie I'eel Kivor portage. Lapierro House, on the western side of the mountains, was reached on the I'jth, and having meanwhili had my boat taken across the mountains by >ome Indians (who loll owed a route to the north of mine). I imme«liately started down the Porcupine, accom- ])anied by an ex-employi' of the Hmlson's Ba}* ( 'omj)any named Skee, whom 1 engaged to go to the coast with me and who ])rove on tlio Yulvon, a x-?""' '*"' III I 'I 11 . 1 . ' "•<""• Hiiitablo boat waN built aixl the a^LXMit ot tlic iippor part of thu nvor was matlo with less ililHciilly. Wv \vt\ Forty MiU' Croi'U on tlio 14ili of Aiij,'iiHt iiinl arrived ai CliilUoot l'a>.>* on tin- IStli of Sopfoiulu'r. .Iiinuaii on tin' L'lsl, ami N'icloria on iln- l-t o| Octobt-r. Tho total (JiHtanco travolluo, at the moro important points and at the contacts of tho ditieient formations short halts wore called and moro extended examinations made, in this manner it proved possible to obtain at least a general knowledge of the geology of the routes traversed, and to outline approximately the limits of the greater geological divisions. Such notes as wore collected on the fauna and flora of the countiy trav ed through, and which seem worthy of publication, are, in order to avoid repetition, incorporated in the general description, along with the topographical and geological details. This course, S D OEOI.ndlcAL AND NATUHAI. HISTOHV 81 RVBV OF OANAOA. lliougli Icuding to Home cont'uMioii, can liardly bouvoidfil in iinutcounl of u liHHty gonoial exploration, tiucli as tho onu trentud ol. Tiiu nic teorologieul notuH aru givun in the tbrni ol an apiieiidix at tin' t-iid. Ktteiil Ml K0 si^aaio miii'H. Tin' whole of this great district lies on the an-tic slope of the coiitiiiont, and is uiilndcd in the <|rainage linsin-- of tlio MacUonzie and the ViiUon. It in travci'sed. in a direttion a little iM»rtli of we-t, tl rth K< M. Slllllll Hl'i purl hIiIi- Fool-liill.-' engtn liy the KocUy .MoinitMin chaiM, wliieh constiliites the main water- i)artini;' of the distriel. The Ijoek}- Monnlairis onttT tho district on the south luMween long. I2il W. and 12(! .'id' W., as an assomhlago ot' nearly parallel limestone ridges, striking in a north-westerly dii-ection. and rising to altitudes of ;{,0()0 to 4,» farthei' ea-t ranges of limestone mountains rise sudilenly from the plains u|) to heights of 3,00(» to 4, \l HctOMNIll.] PRINrll'AI. PIIYsiPAI. KRATI RKH. l» II •l f oil tliu Lianl, tormstlie iiioHt ciiMMpiciious cxaiMpIo, and wii^ UHtiiniitcil to hitvo a hoii^ht of nourly 4 (Hl(» ImM abi»vo tlii" river 'I'lio Inot-hill licit IS fVin^ol ill till' latitiuli' of l|i«> fiianl ity ii lii^li |iiati>:iu Imilt nt llat-lyiiig ('retail-oils IhmU, tliroiij^li wliirli tin- livt-r lia^ 'ill a ;,'roat yorgc, wliioli ill -omi' pliuos is fully IJHH) foi't (loop. Tlio ■>urfa<'<> of this piatoim lia> ln-oii carvoii liy liic ilraiiia^o synti'in into a st'rios of iiroj^iiiar llal to|t|>eil olevalioiis, Kast iif tlir Iriii^oot' lii^li platuaii-< tliu plaiii-^ in tlit* ii('ii;lili(ii'||ooiM< of tJK' liiani ^lopl• iinifonnly »Mis(\vanls lowanis tlio Macki'iizii'. wiiilt' lartlit-r to tlic soutlicast, aloiij; tlio Ijaki' Mi>"t(li<» trail, thoy ijosccii'l Mi'Mint liii- I uf In the siiiin> U'\ol liv a M'rii's ot' stiMi" an ('Sl•,•lr|lllll•llt^ !•; a*l of tlio .MucUi'n/.ii- a Mai jilain >tioU'ln;s oa>l\var(ls for liiirly iMilt'- l«aipnioiit calli'd the Horn MoiinliMiis. This was H"! oxaminoil, hiil is roporteil to ho merely the westerly face of a hii^her plateau riinniii^ parallel witli the Maekeii/.ie. It e<>rres|ioii(|s in a general way lo tho^e west ot' the rivi-r, hut taee> in the opposite diree- tioii. Tlio whole (»t tho eounti-y horderin^' the Macla'ii/.ie in this liiti tudo, on hotli till lower and hiuhor kuols. so tar as examined, i> tiiieUly maniled with drill. The surface i- usually iiioic or le«.s nndulatiiii;, and is iliversilied \ of all size-, while a larifo pro|)ortion is underlaid hy miiskeii's and iiiar^hos, eovereil wiih >phai^nuin or ho^-mos^. whi(di remain fro/.on tlirou/fhoiii ilie yi-ar. Tiie liiLihcr lauds and ridi,'e-< >eparalinu- the lakes ainl mar^hor. are ually rather densely foro>ted, (diiclly with while <\m\uo ( I'lC'd (tiha). us ■f)iiii- the Manksian \n\w (Pinus lidn/csidfut) and the aspoii ( Po/"//«.s ti hi' It's). The oa.otcin part of the di>lriet examined is traversed ihroiiifhoiit Tin'MinkiMuio. hy the Macken/.ie. This i^reat stream is descrihe I in some detail in a subseiiuont pari of tiiis report, and need only he referred to here. 1 1 ranks ainoiii; the tirst dozen rivoivs of tho workl. and in leiie;th ami size of basin is, on tlu' North American continent, >ccoiid only to the Missis- >ip|>i. Tiio volume ot' water carrio 1 hy the Macdxeii/.ie i- not known exactly, hut >iicli roui^h inoasurenu'iits and estimates as I was ahle lo iiKiko showed it to have, ai a me lium staii;e, an approximate discharije of the water, eeond. It ir.>.ues tVom Great Slave Lake with a width of several miles, hut soon contracts to ahout a mile, a nd tl len maintains this a> an avo.-aiie width all the way to the sea, the luwt ot streaniH \vhi( h enter it at various jjarts of it.s course heiiiii' api)arcntly iiicapahle of increasiiii^ its size to any ai)p:'ociablo extent. The current of the Mat koiizie at a liie;li or medium >tatc of the water In remarkably uniloini throuffliout its whole length, hut in low water its course is interruptel i)y several small rapids. It has an averasre fall of ahoul six inches to the mile. 10 I) (IBOLOnlCAL AND NATIRVL UI8TORT SURVEY OF CANADA. Tribiitiiries. Plaini< bonk'rliiR tliv Maokcii/iu Mounliiins ilisnppear. M<)untain<< at Peel River Portage. The principal trihuturit's of the Macki-nzio, north or Great Slave Lake, are the Liard, wliicii originates west of the Rocky Mountains, and breaks througii that range on its way to join the parent stream, Ik'ur River, the outlet of (ireat Bear I.ake, tind Peel IJivei-, wliich drains the eastern slopes of the northern portion of the Rocdhor, .ILstunc- up the slopes and the Kroater part of the .urfaoe i. either h.u-e or covered with mouses and coarse i^'ras.-es. West of the Hocity Mountains in the north-western part of the dis-'^-'-'ry ^..t trict. a .■u^ri,ed mountainous region, clothed on th,. lower levels with a'" '"""' "" .n..notonous..oniferous forest, stretches westwards to the Alaskan •- ...ary. h.s re^.o,. is draine.i into the Yukon 1^ the Porcupine . rul It. trd.utanes, and has an elevation al.ove the sea of fmn, 1.00.) ,o ,500 ft. It containg numerous short ran.^^es of mountai,.s and hills hu. these appear to l,e entirely independent of on. another, and trend in ditterent directions. The tract of country in the western pa.t of the district IvinL^ l,e tween the Pelly-Yukon and the Rcky fountains, soulh oj the Porct ''?,;: :'r? ""'^'"'""- " '- ''-'"-» P-'cipaHy by the.Stewart and ,t tributaries, and is reported to be billy and mountainous throughout. One ran^r, of hi;,^h limestone mountains skirts the Pellv- Ukon on the east somedistance above the bounda, y striking a little un he \ ''\''' ; r''''^ ■•""g-. ^'^'cording to the miners, tbilows up the north bank of the .Stewart. On most maps a range of moun- tains IS shown crossing the IVIly- Yukon below the mouth of the Stewart and continuing .„. into Alaska. The country bordeiung the river here is higher than usual as >hown by the increased depth of the \ alley, but no definite range was n..ticed. Navi(;able Water.s. The Mackenzie Eiver and its continuation Slave Eiver are navb^able fom l-ort, smith at the foot of the Slave iJiver rapids to the Xrc.ic ocean, adistance of over I,:^00 miles. A small steamer built by tbei}-' n.Kls,ms Bay Company at Fort Smith, in the winter of lR.«.s\.ot "^^' makes annual trips from that pos, down Slave H.ver and the Mackcn- ..oas ar as , be mouth of Peel River, which enters the latter at the bead o, us delta, and thence thirty miles up Peel Kiver to Fort Mac -heison. he navigable season for the whole route barelv avcra-^es the Is o. .luly. and ,n .September the rapi.ls at the head of the llam- l>arsbeeomeimpas.sible. while at low water the wide channel at the outlet of.^reat Slave Lake does not e.xceed four ,o six feet in dp mon^'hs.'"'' "^"' "" '■'^"'" "■^' '""""'■• "^^'^''''''^ '''■ "-'•'3- «ve An account of the breaking up of the ice on the Mackenzie and Fo T r ^r? '" 'T^"' '''"'' ^''' J"'^'^ ^^ '•^- '''»'« Liard opens at Fo.t Liaid about the 25th April, and is usually clear as fu as it ■isiitidn ot' .Miicki'iizie. 12 n OEOI.naiCAI. ANlJ NATl RAL III^TOav SIRVEY nK CANADA. NiiviL'iition nf the l.i.ird. mouth beture the lOlli -May. Tin- impact of tlie iiioviii:; Liani ifo hroalvH up the sheet covering; the .Mackenzii'. aiiil clears in tlio course of a month a passage to the sea. Above the inoutli of the Liard the ice on tlic Mackenzie usually rcniaiiis tirin until near the 'iOth of Ma}'. On (rreal Slave Lake the opening nt navigation vai'ios from the 18th June to the 5th July. In the autumn of 1887 drill ice wa- floating ])ast i-'ort Providence on tlie 21st of October, and on the Ultli ol N'ovember the river \va-« frozen across. Great Slave Lake i^ usually frozen li>r .some distance from the shores belbie the end of October. It follows from these date- that the .Mackenzie, disregarding the ob- slruclinn.s in low watei' frntn rapid>. cannot \n: cnn^idercd as navigable much before the lOtb of.lunc nor later than the 20th ot' O •tobei-. On Great .Slave Lake the navigable sea-on last- from about the 1-t of July to the end of October. Tiie navigation of the Liaivl. the piincipal tributary of the .Muidvcn- zie, is intcrrupteil about twenty miles aliovc it- mouth l)v a series of strong rilMes. The.-e might ])os.-ibly be overcome by the use ol the line, but the >teamer Wrujle;/ has not yd attempted tu stem them. Above the ritlles the Liard is ea>ily iia\ igable a- far as l-'ort [jiard anil theme on up the west branch as tin- as Hell Gate. .Vbovc Hell Gate its navi- gation, owing to the numerous ra|)id> and canons, is e.\eeodingly ditticult and dangerous oven wiib -mall boats. The Nel.soii or East Hranch of the I.iard is reported to be navigabU- by -rnall -teamcr- for a hundi'cd mile- or more above its mouth. Of the otiiei' tributaries of liie -Mackenzie. I'eel Ki\cr is the only one which can be considered a> navigalde. Tbi- i- ascended ainiually !i> stated above by tlic >tcainer Wriijleij as tai' a- Kort .Macpher- son, ;i distance of about thirty miles, and if necessary could be Ibl- liiwed much f.iitbei'. but the exact distance i- not known. On the west siile of the Rocky .Mountains, Rnt River and the Porcu- (lic I'oiviipinc. pine could easily be navigated for thi'ee or f mr months of the year, by small steamers. tVom liapierre House down to the Junction of tlie latter Willi the Yukon. Above the mouth ot" the Porcu|)ine the Yukon, be- yond a stitV cm-rent of from four to five mile- an hour, pre-ents no ob- stacle to navigation as far as Eink Eupids. a distance of ovei ive hundred miles, and below the in >uth of the Porcupine it is navigable to the sea. Stewart liiver, the principal tributary tif the Yukon on the east in tht- district examined, i- re|)orte 1 to be n.ivigable for a dis- tance of itearly two hundred mile- above its mouth, but has not yi't lieen ascended by the steamers jilying on the Yukon. The navigable waters of the .Mackenzie are separated fio.n those nn N'iivi(tiiti(>ii (if Hill liwcr anil (■1/ I Ml CONNEtL,] (iEOLOOICAr, St MM ART. I.JD the Yukon in lat. H7^ 20 X. by a di8tanco of about sixty miles ..nly. A ("irt trail was staked out ^oiiu- year, ago by the JIu(ls<.n ^ Hay Company ucro88 the interval separating these rivers with the intention of sup- l»lying tlu' Mackenzie River district with goods by way of the Yukon, but the project fell through and the road was never built. ( i kolo(t I c A r. s r m .ma k y . CRVSTALLINE SCHISTS. Th.' region examined lies to the west of the great Archaean axis of the continent, and the ''Ocks of this system were only seen at two points Ar<.h,...„r.„k. east of the Kocky Mountains. At the foot of the rapids on Slave _River they eonsist of coar-c gi^ained granitoid gneisses indistinctly foliated, :nid at Fort Ihie of a medium grained biotite granite-gneis>' At both these places the gnei8,ses evidently belong to the Laurentian, or oldest division of the Arduean. li> the Kocky Mountains themselves no pre-Cambrian rocks were observed. West of the Eorky Mountains crystalline schists are lar along their old strikes, but aloni; parallel strikes a couple of degrees liwtlier west. The break in the c'oniinuity of the Focky Mountains, which is leleired to on another jiage, has it's counterpart in a break in the continuity of the belt of TrN-talline rocks which usually accompanies them on the wot. The dips of the crystalline rocks along the Felly- Yukon are usually I>ip ■>'■ r.-ks. westerly and at high angles. Alongthe eastern edge of the .lystalline belt the ro-dvs are character- '^'''^'^•""■^"t izedjjyagcneial greenish colour and consist largely ot altered volcanic "'«*^'"""" • Annuiil Report Ucul. .Survey, m7-'-S. part I!. ' 14 I) OF.oLooiCAL AND NATLRAL HISTORY SURVEY OK CANADA. roc-ks. The most im|iort!int variety iH a shoaiod and alloiod ^loeniMli •luai'tzorfc schist. With this arc associalod j^roL'iiish clilorite hearing schists, lustrous inica-schi>ts, diubasos and serpentines. 'I'iie schists are interhedded witli occasional hands hy igneous intrusions. The green schi>ts are undeilain in ascending tiie river by a jUireat thickness ot' well foliated mica-gneisses alternating with mica and hornblende schists, which are distinctly Arclncan in appear- ance and lithological characters. The}' beai' a strong general i-cscm- hlance to tiie Archican rock>, recently iloscribed by Dr. J^awson from the \vc>tcrn part ot' the Selkirks. Granite intrusions occur in the gnei.ssic area, but lo>~ frequently than in ihe green schist belt. — (See p]). 143.144'. CaMI!Ro-S|LURIA.N. <'iiiiiliio-Silu- The greatci- part of the un(i)>siliferous dolomites, limc>tone> and calc-schists found along the Liard, west of the Rocky Mountains, are identical in lithological charactei's with the Castle .Mountain grouji of the Bow River section, and are proiiably of Cambro-Silurian or later Cambrian age. .Similar rocks al>o form the base of the geo- logical section in the Nahanni Hutte, and in the mountains near the bend of the Mackenzie, seventy miles below Fort Simpson. The Cambrian slates and quartzitcs whi( h undei'lic the limestones and doloinites i4' the Ca.-tlc Moiinlain grouji along the ]}o\v liivci' are not brought to the surface, so far as observed, in the mountains along the Liard and Mackenzie. No rock- holding Silurian fossils were found in any pai't of the district. Ili.cv(iiiiiin Devonian. '' Devonian rock< were not definitely recognized west of the Rocky .Mountain-. Ka>t of the mountains they have a wide ilistribution and uny tlio Cretaceous, and cii tlu' iiortii- east overlaps all tiic older I'ala'ozoic formations and comes directly in contact with the Ai'cha'an. In all this rei^ion tlie hotls ai-e practically undi>turlied and are seldom all'ccted hy di|>s exceedin<^ a few feet to the mile. North of the Liard the I^evonium has become involved in the fold- ingsofthe FJocky Mountains, but in the ])lain followed by the river liclween the lanifes, the beds, except in a few places, such as lioch Island opposite Fort Wiigley. IJock l>y the River Side, ami Bear and Carcajou Mountains, ai'c hoi'i/.ontal or nearly so, anlace8 satu- rated with petroleum. At the Rock by the River Side, and at other places where the beds are tilted and older rocks exposed, the middle divfsiou is underlain In' li.OOO feet or more of greyish limestones ami dolomites interbedded occasionally with some quartzites. Xo fossils were col- lected from the lowei' part of this series, and rocks oldei' than the Devonian may possibly be I'cprosented iu it. Representative collections of fossils, showing a mixture of llamil- I'^ssMa. ton and Chemung forms, weie obtained from the upper part of the shales on Ihiy River, at a point about forty miles above its mouth, and from the same horizon at the Ramparts on the Mackenzie. Tlie iitlxjlogical characters and the stratigraphical relations of the limestones at these two points, notwithstanding the fact thafc they are separated by a distance of over 570 miles, are almost identical. The Ifi n ..EOLOUIOAI, AN,. NATL'RAr, HI,ST..Rr SURVKV OK CANADA. rosKil faunas alHo, at tI.o two points, show similar close relations the pnne.pal .hfforonces boin,. the p.-esen-.o of RlujnConella c^o^ Zl K..mpa tH This m.^^ht seen, to indicate that the I.eds at the Ramn-.rt>. - shg tly ol.ie,. than tho.c at .lay Rive, but Mr. Wh t LtTCs th t 1,0th are referable to the Uuboides Zone. A number of s naH , colecfons of fossils were obtained at various p.dnts .Z.^\^U . kn.K..and a complete list as determined l.r describe.! by nhiteaves IS given below. ^ Si'ONOI.K. Astraospomjia Hamiltonenm, Meek and Worthon. Hay Kivo,-. Antiiozoa. Aulopom serpens, .Sclilotheim. Hay River. /oantiiaiua. StreptdasmarerUan, Hall. Mackenzie Biver. t.n n,iles below Bear Inver. <-■ '« jjl.u Cyathoplajllum arctkum, Meek. Jiampart, ALaekerv.ie iJiver (yathophyllum Richardsoni, Meek. Ban,part>, Mackenzie Jii'ver iampophyllum eJliptlcum. Hay River. Campopkyllum crspitosum, (roldfuss. Ha\- River Jleliophyllum paroulum, Whiteaves. Jfay River. Phlllipmdra'a Hennahi, Lonsdale. Hay^River. ' Phillipsastrwa Ve.rrilUi, Meek (Sp.). Jfay River ^ipl¥l^^>n Amcrlcanum var. arcti.nm, Meek. Hamparts, Mackenzie ^_-l^...;^^.. callonun, Meek. Tay Kiver; and Rumparts, Mackenzie Chi.voidea. Arachnomms Canadensis, Wliitcaves. Hay l;ivei-. Vermes. ^^Jjorbisomphalodes, Goklh... Hay River; and Jiamparts, Mackenzie Splrorbis Arkonensis, Micholson. Hay River. 1 M.CONNtll.'l GEOLOGICAL SI'MMART. IV D l''M,YZOA. [federella Canadens!,, .Xicl.ols.n. Ifay IJivor and \UumnxvU Ma.- kenzif River. ' Prohoscina laxa, Wliiteavos. Way River. Stomatopora momUformis, Wliiteaves. Uny Biver. As<^0(llctyon stillatum, Xicluiisoii. Hay Kiver. Fales-ham iadni,v/ulan6. Xieliuison (Spj. Hav Riv,.,: a.i.l Katn- parts, .Mackenzie Rivur. Cernmopora JJiirojietiS's, Xi River. Eatonia rariabihs, Whiteaves. Jlav Jiiver. Pentamenis galeatits, Dalman. Rampart-, Markeazie River. Stnn;/o,;'p/uiUs Burtini, DetVance. liamparts, .ALackenzie River Cryptontlla Caldni, Jlall and \Vliitlield. Jiamparts, Mackenzie R'iver JVe>rterria (Jiensselaeria) Iceci,, Meeic (S,..). JJan.part.s, Mackenzie River, 1 I>^ I) OEoLOfilCAL AND NATURAf, HrsTORV SIBVEV OF CANAIiA. Pei.ECYI'OHA. P„r„ajd„s ,'lUptira. Hall. Ifamparts. a.ul ten n.ilo. hclow 15c;.r Hiver, Maekoiizio Riv.-r. Schi2o, .Mac ken /.ie- Rive- hmmphalm {Strai,arollm) ,jte.v,striatus, Wliitoavcs. Ramparts Mui- Konzio iiivcr. ' Euomphahis M,d-us'\ W'hit.Miv.'s. TFay 'Rivfi-. ('El'IIAr.OI'ODA. Orthorera.-i ( iwo .s))ecie.i). Hay Rivor. (joiiiatites. Hay Jkivor. Crl:stacea. ostracoda. Priniifin scitiila, Jones, ifay River. A/Hirclutes mifis, Jones. Hay River. Isochilina hellula, Jones. Hay River. Iriloisita. Proetus flaldemani, Hall. IJampar^ and <.rand Aievv, Mackenzie River. The limestones whi.h I'ise fi'om beneath the Cretaceous .,n the Liard a few nnle.s helow Fort Liard hold fossils characteristic, of transition bed.s between the Devonian und the Carboniferous.- Tiie Ibllowinir speciCH wei'e collected there from one exposure :— Strq,torhyncl,us, like .S'. umbraculum. Spirtfera. two ribbed species. Spin/era (Martinia) seth/era, Hall. Athyris su/njuadrata, JIail. Proetus peroccidens, Hall and Whitfield. Similar transition beds occur all along the Rocky Mountains, south to the International Boundary, but have not been detected heretofore <3ast of the Cretaceous biisin (jf the plains. MiCONNEll.^ OEOLOCICAL SCMMARr. If) 1) o\v JJoiir k' Rivci'. I't.s, Muf- ckenzio e Liurd ansition 1 1 owing Trias. Beds hohliiitr Triasrti.- Inssils occur al-.n^r ti,,- Liar.l i,, il,o e-isio.-n ■u f^^ot-hills of the RocKy Mountains. Th^y consist o^,!.:^^!^'^^^^ usually rather coarsely laminate.!, an-l i,as>ing into calcarc.us shales .nters„.at,l,o.l with san.Ktnne. and shaly and n.asHivo li.uestoncs The latter arc modoratoiy crystalliMe. are daric in .olour, and arc usualivvorv >'n|.un.. They are harder than the ..hales, and at llelKJate narn.w the va ley into a canon. The hods undulate, usually in easy folds alon- the valley, and are exposed in numerous disconnected .sections, hut it\vas *""nd nn,.o.s. Triassh- fi.ssils were tl.und at the Kaj.ids of the Drowned, at UelKiateand at one intermediate point. It i> Lo- l.able, however, that a ..onsiderahle proportion of the barren shales east and west ot these points are also of Ti^iassh- age. All the tbssils col- lecled have been examined by Mr. Whiteaves. and the followin-. list of specie-s, nine of which are described bv him in Vol. ]. nt -"of the "Contributions to Cauadiat, Palaeontology.-' is furnished by" him :- Spin'fi rina hon a/in. TtTcbrntuIu Liartleiisis. Monotis ovalis. llalolna (Daondla) Lommelli, Wissman. Ila/obiit oeridentdlis. Xauti/u.'i Liardi-nsis. Popanoccras McConnelli. ^ Trachyceraa Canadense. Tn'gfmodm f product us. Jlanjarita Triassfca . Tria.ssic beds were not detected along the eastern edge of the Liard Cretaceous basin. They are also absent from the vallev of the Mac- kenzie, as the Cretaceous rocks were fo.ind there in a numbe,^ of nlaees lesting directly on the Devonian. s, south •etofore Cret.^ceocs. Fossiliferous Cretaceous bed., were not recognized in descending the Liard until the j.lateau belt which borders the eastern foot-hills wis reached. Below Fort Halkett, west of the mountains, a band of soft Cre.aoeo.., of dark shales crosses the river, which may be in part Creta.'eotis but no''"^""-^'^ fossils were found in it. The eastern tb..t-hillsare built of a great series alternating shales and .sandstones, with some limestones,' all foldd clo.sely together, which resemble those found in the foot-hills farther .'() II r(ilml)l.v (•()ii>ist lai'^i'ly of ('it'tacooiis rocks, Imt it wjiH louiiil iiii|>o>Mii)lo Mil u liUf-ty tiip iilon^^ oiu- lirn' to so|iiiiatn tlioho li'oiii tlio TriuHHic, or irom tlio sliulcs which cap the I'ahi'ozoio systotti, owiiit; to the litliulci^icul simihirity which |)rcvails throiij,'iioiil. lOa-l of the foiit-liills the coiiv i,'railiiully coaso ami the >t'ctioii he- CHmraojiTHiid i-onu's iiKire loirihlo. Tile l)coiiie fossils anions wliich were several sjieciinens of I'larenticcriis Pi'r< ■ :i(inii>ii, one ol the cliaiaetei'istic fo.ssils of series ('. of the (^iieen Cliarluite Ishinds. Witii ilii.- wore species of < 'itmjitonertcs jiimI /noi'cndm. Near the ea>lei'ii ciIlcc of the pliiloiiii licit theshale^ are overhiin iiy intissive beds of lalhor soft (^andstunes and cunizionierates, thu thicUne.sv cif which was not iiseertained. TIh' coiiixinnioriites are atlecled liy ji ^^'iitie easterly diji. and doxciid In the level ol'lhe river in the course of a few mile-. l-"roin the point at which they disappear to tho eastern ed<^c ot' the ( 'rcitaceoiis liasin. tho rocks con-i.-^i of dark fissile shales, crmnMy ~andy shalos and sandstones, Imt the e.\- jiosiires iiioni; the valley aro infreiniont, and the succession >oori lioconic-- olisciirc. The (Jrotaceoiis >eclion ahini,' the Ijiard thus sIkiwn iwo ,i;reat shalo and siindstoiic series scpariitod hy ii hetivy hand ol sandstones and ctward is not known; somliwards they are connected with the •,n-cal Cretaceous basin oftlu^ |ilaiiis. Fifteen miles below Fort Liard the hcvoiiian linu'stoiics rise to iho with iJtvoiiittii. ..^upC^ce, but the Junction between them ami the overlying .Mezozoic rocks is concealed, and I wasunai'le to ascertain whelherthe older beds continue to the eastern eilge of the basin or arc here overlapped by the Upjiei- Cretaceous. It is probable, however, that the latter is the case. • Am. Juiini. Sci., Vol. XXXVIII, |i. IJO. ~~ Juuetidii III Crotaceim i I (IKiir.iMilCAI. SfMMARY. 21 i> •Illlii;- >i;'ical iIkii iilci- tliiit llii- a IV I he y/.o\v ho.ls tlio .'asu. Tin' plains linidoiiiiif tin' IdWi-r nftit ol'tlio Tiiar, antroani until tho Dahailiniii {{iver in lat, (5 T V. \va* rear|u'aliIy eonfiniie nn\' limesliMm n>oiiniain> and cannni have a LCri'ater width than ten ny tifteen miles. They liave heeii sepaialed from the Oretacooiis hods which form the western shores offJreut F^ear Tiako hy the elevation of the Mniint Clark rani,'e. Forty miles lielow liear Ifiver the CretaecOns hcU reajipcar i>n the l>anks of thoMaekonzie, and with the exeoption <>f one hroak of a eoiiple of miles whtM'o they have heen removed hy demidatioM. underlie the \alleyall the way to the I'amparts, a distance of ninety miU'>. Tin- fossils ohtaincd holh from this area and Irom the one nhove IJear River ionsist ot fraii'meids m|' .VmnioniieN :iiid Inocei'ami, tun imperfect t't>v specilic, iletermination. A hundred ami twenty miles hehiw the Ramparts, the Mackenzie enters a third (.'retaceoiis area, and the lai-^'cst one on the river, ('re- tacciMis lu'ds a]»])ear in the banks a shnri distami- lulow nld l''ort (iood iro|)e and extend down the Mackenzie to the head of its delta, anil westwards across the Rocky .Mountains and down the Porcupine to about lonif. I.'l',)'-' W. They consist on the >raeken/.ie of coarso shale- iiitcrstratitied with some sandsloiio and tine i^rained coui^lomerates ; in the mountains of sevei'al thousand feet of bari'en -andslones and ([uarlzites underlain by dark shales, and on the Porcupine of the same two series underlain by a i^reat thickne»> of altcrnatine; shales, sand- >tones and coni^lomoratos, holdini; Aurdlii Mos'/uiusls var. I'uni'entrica. The inlei'mediate dark' shales are probably of Menton ai^c, while the lower division so tar as the fossil evidence goes, represents tho (^uoen Charlotte Island formation and the Dakota (see p. I.'!!*)- Cretaceous shales holdini; Aucella and passioi:; upward^ into tine rretuccdu? 1,'rained coni;-lomerate8, occur on the Yukon for many miles above and y'l'ikon." ""' below tho mouth of tiie Tatonduc (sco p. 1^»'.0> •'"*' were traced by Oiijilvie up the latter stream for some distance. They have boon greatly disturbed and are foldod uj) in broad band- with the underlying I'akeo- zoic limestones. It is hiiihiy probable that the various Cretaceous ;ircas scattered along the Liard, Mackenzie, Porcupine and Pelly-Yukon, were originally I •>•> OEOI.ddlCAI, AND NATI IIAI, IlIHTilllY Ht'RVKV oK lAN.lDA. contioctod nnil littvc liocn hupuratoy (lonudatioii. Tliiw \h shown hy tli« Htiiicliiic (tf tho I't-ijion, liy (ho limHil ovidiMico -<> liii- hh it tfoi-f, and hy th»' litholo^ical ami Hlniti^'raphical roHomlilaiicdx which jiri'v.iil throughout. DiHtriliiition Tertiury. OhiiraiUir nf Tertiury. Tbrtiauy. of Tertiary bods occur at the mouth of Hoar Hivor and occupy a ba^in of ahout thirty to forty miles in Icii/^th and twenty to thirty in hrcadth. Thoy I'cst unconformalily on the underlying CrctaccouB shales ami I)o- vonian limoMtonos. They are lacuwtral in origin and conniHt largely of discordantly bedded sand, Hundy cluyH, clays and gravolH. Beds of purely argillaceous material usually somewhat plastic in character are also present, and seams ot lignite and carbonaceous shales not intre- (jucntly constitute a considerable proportion of the section. A more detailed description will be found on i)age !•»!. The betls have an an- ticlinal attitude on the whole, but are usually nearly horizontal. They have a minimum thickness of tiOd feet. Remains of plants are abun- dant in some of the beiis, but no animal fossils either vertebrate or invertebrate have so far been obtained. The Ibllowing list includes al) the species colloctcd by various travellers up to date ; — Ftt'ris Sitkensis, IIekr. Smila.r Frdnklini. (lUjiitOifrobus U/hjiri, IIkkr. Sequoia J.(Jn(js(lor[fii, Bronot. Taxodium disticfaun. Tdcites Olrihi, II eir. PojnUus arctictt, Heer. " RirhiirdsonU, Heer. •' " var. latior. " Ifookeri, Heer. Salix Raeana, Heku. Bttula macruphijlta. (ipt. Vonjlus Mc(,huvrii, Forhes. (Juerrus Oldpeni, IIeeu. Platdiius aceroides, Heer. Juglans acuminata, Bkon(!t. Viburnum yordenskiolitii, IIeer. Pteros/iennites ajnctal'ilis, Heer. " dentatus, Heer. Tilia Malmgrcni , Heeu. Phytlites aceroides, Heer. MCOhNILt. I ilEOLnolCAL HCMMAItr. 2.1 I) i Hedern MacChirei, IIker. Miiijnulia Xordcnskinldii, IIeeh. Calliiti nuj/'hyllum latum, Dawwon. Car/'olithes seminulim, Hkek. Carpolitheti. LeijumiHosites ('■) f'oriutlis, Dawson. Antholitht's omistius, Ukeh. Pyriti/.od and Ibiriiginnus wood o\' Siijuoia and otlier ^enora. This liNt Ih ill iho inaiii llu> Hniiio as that |iiil>lisiieii liy Sir William Dawson in the 'rransactinnsof the l{oyal Society of Canada (Vol. Vll, Sec. 1\', I'ai^o tl'.)), Idil ital.so iiudndos Homo additional spoiics colliHtod by the writer, and since described or lo a height of se\oral hundred foot are I'Xtensivoly dovelopeti, ami lioider the ri\fr all the way to the mountains. While ])assing through the mountains and eastern foot- hills ordinary river valky de])osit> were noted. Ivistern orraties were first notieed on leaving the i)rokon jilateau l>ell which flanlo the fool-hills on the oa>t in thi> latitud.'. and were then traced all the way to the .Maekonzie. 'fhe highest |)oint at which they wore found was on liie tlaidss ot a mountain >ituated ojiposito Fort Liard. ap|iroxi- niately in hit. tW N.. long. ISA W.. whore they reach an elevation of *1,500 feet above the surface of the surrounding eountiy. or about 2,P)nO feet above tiie sea. The frratii's extend much lartber west than the boukler-cla\', and are jn'obably wator-iiorne. Eastwards fr'jin the foot-hill region stratified sands and giavels ro>t on tboCIr'otaeeous rocks, and are exposed in numerous sections until a i)oiiit about twenty niiles below Fort Ijiarii is reacheil. Below thi> tlio rivi'r winds tor many milos tlH'oiigh one of those tilled up depros>ions in the bouliler-elay which are so fre(|uently met with on the area of the great plains. , in this stretch stratified sands ami silt^ only are scimi. Foi'ty miles from the mouth of the river, measuring in a straight line, the i)evonian rocks rise from beneath their laciisiral covi'ring. :(nd are soon afterwards overlain by nnmistakoable boulder-clays of the ordinary type. i^oulder-claj-s are then almost continuously ox])osed on to the mouth of the river. Slave Iviver. below F'ort Smith, wintls through an alluvial plain all the way to Great Slave Lake, and sections of .smds, clays and gravels of later ago than the boulder clay are ex))osed at the elbows of all tiie bends. The width of this ])lain is considerable, as Salt llivor. a tri- butary of Slave IJiver, >er[)entine> through it in a westerly direction for tifleen miles, and it probably extendi nearly as far to the east. It is underlain j)artly b}- loam ai\d partly in' sandy soils, and <'c)ntains a number of treeless areas. lU'pulilistioil ill |.iirt t'nnii Bull. Unol. S..,.. Am., vol. i, |i. 51". MCCONNtLL.] SUPERFICIAL DEPOSITS AND (il.ACIAI. ACTIOX. .) 1) Some notes OM(irei.t Slave Lake ai'o ,i;ivoii on pa^iro.-, CT-Tl. Tlie l,,\vT,.rnicco„ lenaeos whidi surrcimd this lake are inteix^stin-, as tliey attunl evi-ffi ■'''''' (lonce either of a damniin^r up of the whole eastern end ot" the lake bv iee, or, what is moi^e probable. Jiid-ino- by the mindi >;-reator heiu'lits a"^! which they were found by Hack at the eastern end'of the lake than those whieh obiain anuind thr western part, of sio-nitieant chancres ii. elevation. Tho elevation of the re-rion borderinu- the .Macken/.i.' where It issues from the lake i> ineonsiderablc, and a rise in the K^vel of the lattei'sutlieient \n brin- il up to ihe hi,i,^her terraees woidd. luuK'r pre- sent eonditioii. be im|)o.ssible. a^ the oiillet would immediately be enlarged U> a width ecpial to that of the lake itscdf The Arrluean portion of a,cat Slave Lake i> evidently pre-ii-Jaeial in it^ origin. a> Its peculi.ar cruciform .shape, its great depth, viewed in eonireelion with the comparatively l.)w elevation nf the surrounding cnuntry, and the precipitous >hore clilts which ,>rvnv ... tVcpn-itly .ai'ound it. are all features which can scarcely be attributed in their "entiretv to glacial W(M'k. it is possible, however, that the western part, which is^nucll shall(.w..r an wav nut of .-t prrviouslv formed basin to the east. Hay River, which empii... i„to (iieat Slave Lake near its wotern Il.,v River, end and dianis the cainiry to the -outb-wesi, has evidently h.ul a hi- tnry .somewhat similar;,, that of Xia-ara, but it has n/,t vet been thornughly e.xplorcd. It was ascendcl a. tar as the Ale.xandVa Falls, and a description of the latter and the accompanying gorge will ho found on page '!',',. About ninety miles south-west of the wot end of (Ireat Slave Lake u north-easterly facing e.scarpment. marking a permanent ris,> in the general elevation of the country was erossed. while on a winter trip from Kort I'rnvidence to Lake His-tch,.. (he troni and summit of win. 1, were royered with a medley of steep .ided. interlacing hills and ridges, M-ruMio ri,i simdar in appearance to those found on the (irand Cuieau de .Missouri of ihe plains, and evidently like them of moraiidc ori-in. The depth of the snow, however, prevented a salisfaetory examinaliMn, Xo ,,ihei' morainic bells m- areas were noticed in this part of the district, and the surtaee, as a rule, is rather uniform, but swells occasionally into wide ndges of little height running in a north-north-westerly direction The shallow dopressi,ms between the ridges are covered largely with mo.ssy muskegs and lakes. ' " Pn^cee-ling down the Mackenzie fn.m (ireal Slave Lake, alluvial clays form the banks tor .s,,me miles, aud then a bo.dder-clav makes its appearance .scarcely distinguishable in character from the same tbrma I 26 n GEOLOGICAL AND NATDHAL HISTORY SURVEY (IF CANADA. Boulder-iilny on the Miic- kenzie. Dark boulder- elay. Stratified beds ovcrlyinn :ind uniicrlyiiig bouldor-cliiys. IMrectioii of ice flow. tion ;is dcvoloped in F'lii.stern Ciinmla, ."J. 000 mile-< distant. It occurs here as a light-yellowish, compact, arenaceous clay, tilled with rounded Archfcan boulders, and, iis elscwheiv, showing little or no signs of sti'atiiication, and is traceable, with some variations in character, as far as the Lower Eamparts, or to the head of the deltoid portion of the river; and this notwithstanding the fact that less than a hundred miles below the mouth of the Liard the Mackenzie enters the tlanking ranges of the Rocky Mountains, and for the next three or four hundreil miles its valley is partially guarded on the east by ranges of mountains, some of which exceed 4.000 feet in height. The thickness of the boulder-clay is extremely irregular. In some of the pre-glacial de- pressions sections exeeeding 250 feet in thickness were frecjuently noticed, while a few miles away the older rocks i-ise to the surface, and the boulder-day blanket either thins out or completely disappears. For some (ifty miles above Bear River the boulder clay is much darker in colour than is usually the ca.se, and is apparently mostly derived from the dark shales of the Cretaceous and Devonian, which floor the valley. It is almost destitute of boulders, is very plastic, and is broken down by land-slips into ruinous-looking banks similar to those produced on the Saskatchewan and other livers of the plains bj- the sliding of the Pierre shales. The scarcity of boulders in this reach is probably connected with the fact that the mountains east of the river are here higher and more continuous than in other parts of the valley, and afforded a more complete protection against the eastern ice invasion. North of Hear River the hoiilder-clays revert to their nor- mal character. The boulder-clay throughout the greater part of the valley is overlain by heavy deposits of stratified sands, clays, and gravels, probably lacus- tial in their origin, and is underlain by a gravel terranc somewhat simi- lar to and occuj)ying the same relative i)osition as tiie Saskatchewan gravels of the j)lains of Alberta and Assiniboia, but differing in contain- ing a much greater proportion of Laurentian pebble>. These beds have a thickness in some cases of fully 150 feet, ami contain well- rounded pebbles rangJTig in size up to eight or ten inches in diameter. They are intimately coimected with the boulder-clay, and in one place were observed to alternate with it. and they seem to show that the bonldei'-clay jieriod in this region was preceded as well as toUowed by what may be termed a lacustrine epoch, dui'ing whicii the surface depressions were filled with extensive lakes. The few facts observed in regard to the direction of ice flow in the Mackenzie valley support the theory of Dr. Daw.son as to its northerly movement. In the we>tern part of (ireat Slave Lake the direction of ) I MiCONNELL 1 SUPERFICIAL nf:POSITS AND OLACIAL ACTION. the ice current, as staled on page "(!, was clue west. Five degrees farther north well markel glacial striiP, striking 15° north of west, were observed crossing the summit of Roche Carcajou. This rock, which muHt iiave been completely submerged, rises to a height of 1,000 feet above the surface of the river. Important evidence on the same ])oint is also afforded by the fact that the boulder-clay near the Lower Ramparts of the ]\rackenzie is in approximateh' the same latitude as the northern boundary of the Archsean area to the east, and the gneissic boulders which it contains must have travelled either straight west or north-west in order to reach their present situation. Those facts allow the inference tliat the ice from the Ai'chiuan gathering grounds to the east poured westwards through the gaps and passes in the eastern flanking ranges of the Rocky Mountains, until it reached the barrier formed by the main axial range, and unable to pass this, was deflected to the north-west, in a stream approximating 1.500 feet in depth, down the valley of the Mackenzie and thence out to sea. In crossing the mountains by the Peel River Portage few glacial Terraces, features were noticed. A couple of terraces, the higher of which has an elevation of about 550 feet above the sea, flank the ranjre on the east, and a sub-angular gneissic erratic was found at a height of 1,50(» feet, but this was probably water-borne. On the western side of the mountains a terrace, with fragments of a higher one I'esting on it in places, was crossed at an elevation of about 1,500 feet above the sea. Proceeding down Rat River to the Porcu]»ine, and down the latter through the ramparts, sands, gravels and silts are found resting on the underlying I'ocks, but no boulder-clay, perched boulders or other evi- dence of giaciation were anywhere seen. Along the up])er part of the Ramparts river gravels, often very coarse in charactei', were noticed at various jioints up to elevations of -100 or 500 feet above the surface of tlie river. Some miles below the liamparts the banks of the valley Creat plain divoi'ge on either side, and enclose a great plain tliniugh which the Porcupine ser|)entines ail the way to the Yukon, a distance measured in a straight line of about soventy-tive miles. This plain has a width in it^ widest part of fully ninety miles. Sections are cut through it in different dii'cctions both by the Porcupine and Pelly-Vukon, and show it to be underlain throughout by sti'atitied sands and silts, often shewing false bedding and with occasional layers of gravel. The latter appeared to become finer-grained and of less relative importance towards the centre of the area. The size of the plain, its unifoi'mity and the charac- ter of the beds which unite all our camps. Thirty miles below the mouth ol' the Pelly r(dled gravels, evitlently derived from broken down terraces, were found i;i some abundance up to a height of SOO feet. From the Stewart River ujiwards, terraces of a more recent date, ranging up to a hundred feet in height, border the river at inter- vals and increa>e in elevation as we ascend, but no bouKler-clay or other evidences of glaciation were seen until a ])oint about seven miles below the liink Rapid was reached. Above this signs of glacier acti(jn, as j)re- viously pointed out by Dawson, are unmistakeable. The plateau boi'- ilering the PelK'-Yukon was not examined, l)ut, Judging simply from the leeords of the lee age which the valley itself atfords, it would ap|)eai' that the glacier which undoubtedly tilled the upper part of the valley of the Lewes and move(l northwards did not ilescend much below lat. G'2 21' X. Jk'low this the deposits indicate a tloodcd valley, but nothing else. A t'eature of some interest in connection with glacial phenomena, and which may have some bearing on the non-glaciated comlition of part of Alaska and the adjacent portion of the Xorth-West Territory of Canada. i> the tact that glaciers are unknown in the Rocky Moun- tains north of the headwaters of the Athabasca, or about lat. ot^ X. Xorthof this(jcca^ional [jatches of sno\v survive the summer in sheltered nooks, but even these decrease in fi'eiiuency with increasing latitude, and on the Peel River portage, in lat. ilT -<>' X., the snow had untirely disappeared liefore the iniddle of .luly. Also, in de.scending the Porcu- pine ati'l ascending the Yukon, no snow was >cen until fai' up the Lowes, and no glaciers until the head waters of this stream were reacheil. Il follows from thi- that climatic changes which would exteiul the present glaciers of the Bow and Saskatchew^m far down • Bull. Geol. . in from the east and flows through Canadian territory all the way. (iold wa^ discovered on theStewaiM in liSSf). and in that and the following year the estimated yield of the various bars amounted to over slOU,00n, but in ISS7 it was almost deserted owing to the discovery of coarse gold (m Forty Mile Crock, and the con.seqiienl " stampede" of the miners to that stream. The gold on ihc Slewarr is.stouMri Kiver. reported to bo " fine," and the bar.- are often e.xhaust conditi ons in a single seasons work, hut as th cd uiKfer present the ey are abantloncd when yield fal in uch below §10 a day jiei' man, i I 1^ nu tluit work on many of them will be resumed wh lily ]ir >bal.li en im pro vim! met hod > mining are introduced, and the pivsent e.xhorbitant ])rices f or labour and ]n'ovisions are reduced. Kxtensive gi'avel benches of a nioic or less auriferous character border the Stewart in many places, and promise remunerative returns if woi'keil on a large >cale. Forty :Mile Creek proved a vei'itable bonanza to most of th who roachetl it eaidy in ls87, but in 1888 the retur miners Forty .\ii ns, owing to tl Creek. J :iO i> (iEnijMiicAL AND NATIRAL IlIflTORY SURVEY iii" CANADA. Qu:irlz vein? ArKciitilVruus Kiilenn- t'opper Pyritc Asboetus. (Jvpsum. Siilt sijrinjr? CDHtinuod iiigli water, wore disiippoiiitiiiLi;. In I lie tiiriiior year llu- yield lias boon ostimatod all the wa^- I'rom J?75,0(l0 to $1"jO,000 and wa.s probalily in iho iioi^Miliourliood ot'^lOO.tiOO. In 1SS8 the yield in con- (|Uonco^()f tlio onl'orood idleness nf the miners, declined to loss than $20,0011, most ot'wliioii was olilained troni tho U|ipor or Alaskan part of the stream. Tho niiinlior of minors omphjyed on the stream during Iho two seasons varied from about 100 to 350. Theujold on Forty Mile Cieek is ooarsor than thai obtained from the Stewart, but tho aiii'il'or- otis bars are usually of little dejilh and are soon skimmed over. Some attention was paid during the season of l^Ss to prospecting the ifulohes and gravel tei'raoes bordering the sti'oain. but these have not been worked as yet to any notaiile cxtenl. Thoeountrv rooks bordei'ing tho Pelly-\'ukon, all the way ti'oni the boundary to White River and beyond, oi)nsist of schists broken through by eruptive granites and diorites, geological conditions peculiarly favor- able to the existence of metalliferous deposits. (See p. 140.) They are traversed in many places along the river by promi-ing i|uai'tz veins and lodges, but those have been vrr\' little prospected as yet, tho miners contenting thomHolves no to the present with the development of the more easily worked })la(H'i' deposits. SiLVKR. — A small lode of argontiferoii- galena crcjsscs h'orty Mile C'reok a couple of miles above its mou'h. A specimen of this brought back by Mr. Ogilvie and analyzed by Mr. Ilotfmann yielded over 38 o/.. of silver to the ton. Copper. — (.\i])i)er ]iyrites, in small ([Uantitios, was noticed at sevei'al points between l-'orty .Mile <.!reok and Fort iJoliance. ll does not occur ill veins, but apjiears to imiu'ognato individual layers ot' the stdiist it- self. Traces of copper wore also observed in the Castle Mountain ilolo- mites at the base of the Nabanni Hulte section. FiiJRous SERPENTINE.- Somo of the sei'pontinos in the vicinity of Forty Mile Creek occasiomUly assume a Hbrous strueturo and pass into a picrolite or coarse asbestu^. A small specimen ot' good serpentine asbestus has also boon brought from the Stewart liivoi', (see Annual Report (Jeol. Suivey. 18S7-S8, p. I'T B). Gyi'SUM. — dyiisuni occurs in lar-e i[nanlitios in the J) cvoiuaii roeks oi'Jk'ar .Mountain at the mouth of Hear River (see p. ](i2). Salt. — Several -alt springs iJruiii into Salt IJivor, near Fort Smith, about twonty-iivo miles above its mouth. Some of th^- springs have basins ten to twelve foot in diameter, which are encrusted with crys- talline salt of excellent quality (wee p. 0.")). Salt is also reported to n the headwaters of a small stream wbiih enters the Mackenzie occur o about tift}' miles above Fort Xorniai ) ECONOMIC SVNOPSIS. 31 D Mile SLra'UCK. — Mineral s|)i'iiiirs of largo voli on the south shoro of Croat Sluvf Laku. and also at th nio oociir at Sulphur Point, Sniiihnr ^pnnu. north of Point Briih'e on the north shi ties of .-ulphur are deposited in the basins of tl channels of the .streamlets which drain them. (-'OAL. — Small seams of impui'c I few miles ahove the Little Cafum )i'e. In both cases small e tar spring'- quanli- le sprinM;s and aloiiir the li,i;-nite were found on the Liard. and lari;-e hlock- of drift occur on the same stieam at the mouth of Coal Eivei- ken/.ie the Tertiary beds at the mouth of Bear I a ; iiifnite On the Mao- uvoi- hold several seam^ if li<,niite, rangini,^ in thiekne-s from two to four feet, and oi which was cnncealed at the t le seam nn son to be nine feet thiek. The li-niite her e 'if II, y visit, is repoiled by Kiehard- e is of infei'ior (luality, am has been burnt in many places for eam of lignite was observed on the ,ms Porcupine, a few miles above the mouth of Old Crow River, and sea..„ of coal are reported to occur in a small stream which enters the Pellv- r is probably Yukon from the cast below Forty Mile Creek. The latte of Ci'etace (JUS a!j:e. Petrolfim.— The Devonian rocks throughout the Macl are nearly everywhere more or les> petrolifei'ous and over 1 ken/.ie valley Oil be;ir ailord ;irge areas bed.'. ing promising indications ,,f the presence of oil in workable quantities. The rocks in several places around the western arm of Great Slave Lake, are highly charged with bituminous matter, and on the north >huve tar exudes from the surface and forms )rin at several JOlnt^ ISO springs is u.-ed by fur traders and other: (see p. 77 j. The tar fi itch om in the counti'v uiir poat? md caiK >es, and they I'oporl that when exhausted quickly renews itself In descending the Mackenzie bitununous limestone- were m)ticed at the •' liock by the Jiiver Side,"' at Bear Liock, at tlio Ramparts, and at numerous other places. Xear Fort (iood Hope several tar springs exist, and it is fitjm these that the lludsons Bay Company now obtain their iirincipal supply of pitch. Th e spi'ings are situated at soi le distance from the river and were not I. in the vicinity of okl J-'ort Cood iroi)e. examined. Still farther dow the river is bordero I for several miles by evenly bedded dark shales'of Devonian aue which ai'e ei.niiilet..l\- v;.itii...,t...i ,..;fi, ,,:i m , l.u. vonian age which are completely saturated with oil. The sh here have been reddened in many places by the burning of ihe oil which thev cont un (see p. HI The possible oil country along the Mackenzie valley is thus seen to be almost co-extensive with that ot the valley itself." Its remoteness from the .present centres of population, and its situation north of the I 32 I) (iKdl.OOICAL AMt NATinAI- HISTflRY SURVEY , .-jiring weather generally sots in ahout the last week in A]»ril or the first week in May, and hy the ir)tli of .May the snow Iia> usually disappeared and vegeta- tion has liei,Miii. The summer tem|)eiature. as a rule, is moderate, the thermometer rarely rising much aliove 70^ F. in the >haile, or sinking helow freezing point. The warm weather lasts about four months only, and by the middle of .September is jiractically over. Around threat Slave Lake the soil .seldom thaws out to a greater dejith than eight feet, and in many of the muskegs and marshes ice remains throughout the year at a de])lh of about two feet. in des- cending the .Mackenzie the frozen soil gradually a])proaches the surface. At Fort Xorman at the end of summer ii lies at a depth of about six feet, at Fort Good Hope at about four feet, and at the mouth of Pei'l River at about two feet. The tliieknes- ot' the I'njzen sti'atum wa> not ascertained. AVinter sets in about the middle of October and lasts for fully .si.\ months. In the autumn of ISs^T the tirst snow fell at Fort Providence on the 1st of October, on the :21st of October ice was drifiingin the rivei', aiul on theliitb of >,'ovcmber the Mackenzie was frozen across. The winters arc characterized by their steady cold weather. In ISS". 8^- the thermometer did not rise above freezing point between the -4th of November and the "idtli of A]iril, and fmrn the 1st nf December to the l>t of .March was usually L'dor more below zero. The coldest dip of the season occurred on the loth of Februarv, when the thermo- meter marked -is below zero. The winlei' winds are seldom very stronn'. and are generally from the X.N.W. or X.F. The pre 'iiiitation is light, but no accurate records of it have been kept. In the season of 1887-88 the snow accumulated on the ground to a depth of about throe feet. This rej)resents the total snowtiill as no thaw occurred be- tween the 29th of October and the 1st oi .May. The a'l-ricultural capabilities of a region m which the snow lies on the uround for nearly seven months in the year, and in which the soil never thaws out to a greater depth than six oi- eight feet, are neces- sarily limited, but that ci'ops of various kinds will mature even under I / I WtCOXNILL.] CLIMATE AM) AcjRIcrLTl'HE. 3.! I) these nntavoialjlc ciroiun->tjmcc'?< ha(* be«n \>n>vM by the experionco of over ii quartoi' of a century. At all the post^ of (ho Hudsi.n'n Hay Company, alony the Mackeii/.ii- ami its trihutarios, with iho exception of Fort Macphei-rion, .small plot> of land are annually cultivated and large (|uantitie-) ..f potatoe>. turnip.s. boels and other vegetables are grown for use in the district ; while at Fort Liard and Fort Providence, the tw.) nicst southerly posts in th.' district, both wheat and barley, iiavo been tried with su.cess iseo p.p. 54d and 78d). 'I'iiere is, however, little reason to hope tiiat the .\rackeii/.ie River district as a whole, or even the southern part of it, ...xcept in limited areas, will ever br able t-. >up- j.oit a purely agricultural conimunity. or that its ))rndii(ts will ever be able to compete in the open markets uf the world with the pi'o luce of more favoured regions. Its agricultural development will depend "ti a local market being ubiaine I. When the time comes, as come ii mu-t, when the undoubted mineral resources of the region are diawn upon, "the food refpiired by the mining population, or the greater part of it at least, can be supplied locally. The amount of arable land is small compared to the total area, and A'noimiof is mostly conrined to the vicinity of the larger sti-eams. Away from '"''''''"■ '""''" the rivers frozen marshes and muskeg.s, ani Mackenzie, the other two being the Athaba-ca and the Peace. It has riv."''''^'" '^ Its sources west of the Eocky Mountains, one of its branches reachin-- to within one hundred and fifty miles of the sea, anil drains the eastern part of the broken country lying between that range and the coast mountains. Its branches spread through four deg.^ees of latitude from 08^ N. to 02^ N., and interlock with those of the Yukon, Stikine' •Skeena, and Peace Rivers. In its upper part it divides at 'interval's into four nearly equal streams, the Mud or Black River, Dease River ( :;4 I) ilEnl.()(lIi-AI, AND NATURAI. IIISTORV SURVKY OK CANADA. Francis |{ivfi', and tlio luancli wliicli l•l•tairl^ tho ei>mini>ii numo. Of those ( 111.' latter and lilaeU liivci aro Hiill practically unknown. l)oaHO liivcr and Kranci> IJivcr wore oxaminod Ity Dr. Dawson in 1x87, and the lollovvin^ account troat^ of tho main rivor from its Junction witli the I)caso to its mouth, a liistance nf ahoiit 470 milc>. I{i>ini; in llie elevated country west of the IJoeky Mountains, the Liard falls rapiilly towards the i'a>t, the dilVei'onco in idevation between the moiitii of tin- Deaso and iho .Mackenzie amounting to nearly 1,650 feet, and is ciiar- aeterized marly every where hy impetuous cui-rentH, by danu;ei-ous rapids and narrow whirlpool-tilled canons. The descent, of the river is ^-realesl and its rapids mo-t numei'ous, wliile passiui;- throu^^h. and for some distaneo on either >ide oftlu' Hmdvy Mountain-. .\fter li'uvin!.,' tho foot hills it is nearly free from interruptions until near its junction with the Mackenzie, where a series ol stron;:f ritlles occurs. The Liard l>iver wu> used for a number ot yeai's by the H. 15. ('<)., as l.i.ir.l Hivcr a 1 1'adini;' roule lo t he Yukoii. and a line of posts oxtomlini; from Kort niiitebv II. u. Simpson on tho Mackenzie, to Fort Selkirk at the junction of tho Lowoh and Pelly was ostablished b\' them, but tho expenses incurred in over- cominij^ the ureal loin^'tb ofditlicult navi^'ation made the trade unpro- titable, and mo-t of the posts have bee'i long since abandoned. At the present time a trading post exists at tho mouth of tho Beawo, but it is supplied from the I'aeilic by way of the Stikino and Deaso River. The Liard has alsc; Iteen used to some extent by pros])octoi'> and miners, the discoverers of the Cassiar (iold tields, Messrs McCullough and Thibert having ascended it from Fort Simpson to tho mouth of the Doaso in 1^7 1-72. Information in regard to the Liard ])revious to tho present exjilora- tion was e.xeeedingly limited, as notwithstanding the use wliich had been made of it by both fur traders and miners, no surve}* of the river had ever been made, and its course as laid down on existing maps was found naturally to be extremely incorrect, in some places being fully one hundred miles out of position. The best sketch of the river I could obtain was one drawn lor me fiom memory by Mr. Thibert who had ascended the rivor eighteen years before. The published descrip- tions also were ot' tho vaguest hearsay character. Sir ,1. Richardson gives a few notes in regard to tho lower ])art in his "Journal of a Boat Voyage through Kuport's Land," and L'Abbe E. Potitot writes i)f it in the following manner : — ' " Je n'ai remonti' la rivitre. des Liards que tie qiiel'jucs milles, mai.i tons les voyiiijeurs (jtii y out nari(jiu' s\tccurclent " /aire una description ejjrayante de ses montaijnes << pic, de ses gouffres et des tourbillons que la velocited'un ■if river. Bulletin de la Soci6to de Geogniphie, Paris, 1875. NNILL.] M'liTU ()!• UKASE UlNKll TO Till: DEMI. S i'ORTA(iK. li'i I. Iiad WilH fully ivcr I who iri'ip- 'd.st)ii of ;i I'l'itos i'ourant re.sscw' entre dis rochers, ilHermine itanjs se.^ eaitx. Pour de.^ce.ndrti rettc rivuri' rertii/inrusc iire<' at'ivirif-- Ifs timonifrs m-'fis >-^ lii'nt .y/r /(• ji'/nt lie li'ur Ijfin/uf, aim ik n'Hri- jxis biwi'i ilniis (es ilots lihinchisS'ints. /'our rctronver un tel speetarle il fiuidrait aflnrnter les perils de Chiryhde. nu i:i i/iriitions intermit tentes df Ma> Istrom." Tlio i)rosoiit ^m•vov is onlv iiitoii(i(' a hrovi.-iorial orio, aiiil was •'imnicii'iipf inailf liy c'stiiiialiM^ tlio rato arcoiviiii;; to iiic;i»iii-emctils inaili' at iiilor- vals aloiii; tlit' shore anil taking tho hoarings with a |)iiMiiatir coinimHs. Obsoi'vatioiiH l()i' hititmlo were also taUen wIil'Hovim' |iracli(aMc. ami -crvo as a useful cheek on the traveise. We loft the mouth of Doase Rivei' on tlie 2'lth .rune in a small iirmii .Ir-cont wooden Ijoat which was Imill liy oui'^eh «'>on Oeuse Lake. Tin' ]iai ty ' eon->isteii he>i(les niysolfof two white men, Louis Tivpanior and .lohn MeLood. Ue^ides tho>e, I also onifaged a couple of Indians to aeoom- pany us a^ far as the Devil's I'orlau'O. I>ut tiicv deseideil at the tirst difficulty which prcisenled itself. The natives alony; this pari of the lu.liiiiiMiionn Liard ai'e very inferior canooiucn. and are at'raid to venture on tho I'iver except in it-* smoothest poi-tjons. They >eld(jm ascend the river with canoes, as they ])refer carrying their outlit along the shoi'e to track- ing a l)oat against the rapid current, and in descending use Hinall .^pruco hark canoes which they can huild in a couple of hours and ahaiidon witlioul much lo.ss. Tiiey I)eIong to the Kasd- places to over half a mile, and a current of t'our miles and a half an hour. It separates in places into a number of channels enclosing low alluvial islands usually well v7ooded. Its valley is from two to three miles wide, and is shallow with I'olling liaidv-' >loping ea>ily u]) to the general level. The country is everywhere well wooded, but tho trees are usually small, seldom e.Kceedini;- a foot in diameter. Tiic principal „ , . varieties observed were the black pine i Pinus Murraijana). the White f'T*'^'-- spruce, {Picea alba), and the smooth and lOugh barked poplars, (Populu.^ tremuloides and halsamifera.) Besides these, groves oflandi were oc- casionally seen, and some varieties of willow and alder. Twelve miles below tho mouth of tho Dease the Liard i-eceives a large tributary Irom tho north. This stream is over :i iiundred yai'ds wide, and is called the liiifhland River, after ai)rospector who a.scenddl it foi- some,,. , , , distance. On the older maps it is named the McPherson liiver. In the it'^''- direction frotn which it comes are some low hills at a distance of four to five miles, behind wliicli appeal- snowy mountains. From the mouth of Dease River the Liard runs in a general K. S. H. direction for eigh- 30 1) OEOLHOirAl. AM* NATIRAl. HISTORV .SURVEY OK rANAI>A. Litdo Caildii. toon miles, and tluii iniiUiiig a >liar|i IumhI to llio imrtli, i-uiih for about tlio «anio (liHtani-e iti a tlireclioii nearly at ri^lit aii;,'lo>< t<. itn fnrmbr rouiht'. Below the lieiul the river f'nr twelve niiles is wiile and lilloil with iKlamlH, after which itgrailually dcereases in width, and this, with the steeper slopes of the valley and the inereusin/^ strength of the eiirront, which oeeasionally hreakin^' into >mall rillio now hurries aliint:' at the rate of sescii miles an hoiii', all alVord si^ns of mir' ap- pi'oaeh to the Little Canon, of the dan,y;eroii> character of which we had heen previously warned, and which soon coini'> into view. The Tiittle ( 'iiMon is about half a mile loni;, and in its narrowest ]ilare aliOMi two hundred feet wide. It is easilv iiavi^aMe in low water, but IS ( lan^feroiis foi- small boats diiriny; as tl le ehannel is verv Rookd betwcpi Dea^c iinil Little CiifKin. crooked, and the current striking with ^reat vinleiici' against the right hand baidc is ibiowii foreibi}' back, with the proiluclif)n of a number of breakers rimniii;:' nearly loiiiithwise with the diieeljon of the channel, and large eiioii^'li lo swamp any ordinary river-boat which is drawn among tiiem. A nnniber of ( 'hiuamen were drowned at this point some years ago. 'Phis cunon can bo run with safety by entering il nearly in the middle of the stream, which is as close to the left hand bank as the lines of reefs and isolated vin-ks running out iVom that side will allow, and onco past those making all haste to the left so as to clear the breakers bcdow. In high water the rapid can be avoided by making a portage of about half a mile along the right bank, Itock exposures are iiifreiiueiU in the valley of the r.iartiiko N. 35'' \V. No fossil wore toiitul in any of llicsi' hoiis, nor any dotinito fvidfrno n{' tlu-ir ai;i' ()l)taini'd hoyond llio lad that tin- >lialos liavo ai'lo^f lillii)l()i;ical n'snm- blanif. Iioth in appearance and lomposition, Willi ihosoim Doax' Rivor, from whicli I>r. i>uwson obtained i;'raptolitcs of I 'tica Trenton a<^o. Helow the Jjittio Canon the river widens out to over half a mile, anil I'liMrii.'iiMof ... lit III • I ,• III r'^"' ''«l<>w the steep, rocky liankH are replaced l>y easier slopes ot gravel and sand. Lmi.' Cuikhi. These conlimit' lor three miles, at'ler which siiaies and Hundstones n«aj)poar in the bank, and their roMtinini,' intliience is inime liately seen in the rapid contraction ot' the stream and the liirmal ion of a ^econil rnir rows. These .sudden dilatations and contractions coimtitiito one of the inoHt charactoriwtic features of the Liard, and are an indication of the holeroifcneity of the formations throiii^h which it cuts. Throii!.'h the ilc tile Just mentioned the stream rn-^hos with great velocity, Imt with an even current until near its foot, where it is forced betwoon two points of rock scarcely a hundred feet apart, which project into the stream from either bank and determine the formation of two rapidly gyrating and dangerous looking whirlpools. These can bo avoided, if necessary, by making a j)ortago of a few feet across one of the points. In onlinary stages of the water, however, they can be run without ditticulty. At this point the shales, sandstones and conglomerate' which have simio.^. ■liinil- boon expo.sed at intervals all the way from the mouth of the Dease, are roi'iiicoil by replacoii by shaly limestone and soon afterwards by more massive varieties of the same rock. Beyond the narrows, the river at once resumes its ordinarv dimen- I'iiinrciiuo ... ... , , , , r. " 1 Vlllll'T. sions. and rushing rapidly around a short bend enters ime ot the most picturesque portions of the valley of the Liard. The river here aver- ages about three hundred yards in width, and glides along with a strong even current of about live miles an hour. Tt is narrowly lonfined by sloping banks, which follow closely all the bendings of the stream, without any intervening flats, or, except at low water, any disfiguring bars and beaches. The valley is everywhere denseh' wooded with ever- greens, aspens, birch and alder, the changing greens of which are agree- ably relieved at intervals by grey limestone cliffs, which rise steeply from the water's edge, and rutlle the surface of the otherwise glassy stream. Eight miles below the entrance to this portion of the river is situated Porcupine bar. Porcupine Bar, once the scone of active raining operations, l)ut now worked out and abandoned. Opposite to it is a range of low hills, at the base of which 1 camped somewhat early on the afternoon of the 28th, for the purpose of ascending them and so obtaiiung a view of the surrounding country. I 38 I) GEOLOGICAL A:.'7) NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY OK CANADA. Cliiirnetcr of limestone. These hills extend in an irregular manner for some miles aloni^ the loft bank of Iho river, but appear to have no definite strike. They have the rounded outlines, which characterize all glaciated districts, but no striae were anywhere observed. They are composed of lime- Appearancoof stone and have an altitude of l.oOO feet above the river, or one counlry. ' ' thousand feet above the general plateau level. From their base stretches in all directions, an irregular rolling plateau, broken here and thers by ranges of low hills and dotted with innumerable small lakes and niarHlu-s. To the south the horizon is broken by the serrated crests and jagged summits of the Cassiar range, one prominent peak bearing S 2(»° W. In a direction N. 25° W., at a distance of twelve to fifteen miles are some low hills still covered with streaks of snow, while a range of partially snow-clad hills wei'e also seen at S. 26° E. The plateau is everyv.'horu densely wooded, the pi'incipal trees observed being the white spruce, the black i)ine, the larch, the rough and smooth barked poplars, the birch, and species of alder and willow. Of these the spruce? which obtains here a diameter of fifteen to twent}' inches, is by far the most abundant and valuable. The limestone of which the hills are lurmed is usually greyish in colour and rather compact, but pa.sse8 in many places into a whitish highly crystalline variety without distinct bedding. It has a general strike of N. 1")° \V. It is destitute of determina'ule fossils, but holds fragments of erinoid stems, and traces of braehiopods and trilobites. From Porcujiine Bar the rivei' runs S.S.E. for some miles, and then bending more to the south, preserves a general southerly direction for tenor twelve miles, wiien it is dosed in by a nameless canon. Jn this reach it presents much the same features as those noted above, but its valley is somewhat wider, and is now bottomed by long narrow well wooded flats. Also the bed of the river becomes considerably enlarged in places and divides around a number of alluvial isb'nds. The iianks of the valley have an average height of five hundred feet and show frequent exposures of whitish coarsely crystalline, greyish, fine grained limestone, striking a few legrees west of north and dipping at all angles. Four miles and a half below Porcupine Bar, is Bed-rock Bar, now like the former deserted. Eight miles farther down is another adandoned miner's camp now represented bj' a single log hut. Passing this, the river bends more to the north and divides around a rocky island, on either side of which is a short ritlle, then runs with an even current of about four miles an hour to the canon mentioned above. This canon is scarcely a hundred yards in length, and is bounded by precipitous limestone clitfs about one hundred and fifty feet apart. It presents no obstacle to navigation. Immediately below the canon the Rivor below Porcupine liiir. i MccoNNtLL.] MOITH OK DBASE RIVER TO THE DEVIL's PORTAGE. 30 D I'iver dilates tor some distance into a large island-tilled basin, lievomi which it contracts attain to its ordinary width of throe or four huii- ''"'''•"■''^• Canon and evidently of the same age. The shales are dark, tinely laminated, and occasionally show well marked cleavage line-i. They are interstratitied in places with the sandstones.and often enclose flattened ironstone concretions, a number of which were broken, in a resultless search for fossils. The sandstone^, lighter coloroil than the shales, are hard and often pass into i|uart/.ites. The conglomerates are very tine grained and consist [irincipally of white well rounde tho rivL>r luirriei on with ;i r^moothoi' ^"'"race, but with scarcely diminished velocity. it> strcnij;th beinj^ shown by tlu': way it foams around the ()cca8ional rocky obstructions ii\ its course. It is bordereil for .some distance by '•• 'e eddies between which and the downward current are lonix h' .if dani,aM'ous lookini;- whirlpools. Fai'ther down is a long but eas uvigablc rittlc, beyond which, with the exception of an occasional rock, the channel remains comj^aratively clear until the stream variou-ly known a- Black. Mud, or Turnagain River is reached. Mud River. This stream, although one of the principal atlluents of the Liard, is at piesent almost unknown. It originates near the Kindlay branch of the Peace Jiiver and joins the i.iard after a course of abiiut two hun- dred and fifty miles. At its mouth it is over one hundred and twenty yards wide. Kighty miles above its mouth is situated a small trading post, built some years ago by Mr. Rufiis Sylvester, but now in the possession of the Hudson's Bay Co. This post is connected with the central post at tho mouth of Mc Dame Creek on Dease River by a pack trail about seventy miles long. From Alud River the Liard bends more to the north, and still run- ning with great rapidity and breaking into occasional i itlles, reaches, in a couple of miles, the Mountain Portage Rapids, one ot the worst rapids met with on the trip. The river here falls over a band of shales irregularly hardened by a system of dykes and worn into a succession of ridges and hollows, and the roughened surface thus produced throws the hurrying waters into an indescribable turmoil. We landed at the head of the rapids on the right bank and were forced to spend a day in making a ditticult portage of about halt a mile with both boat and outfit. I afterwards learned from W. L(5pine, an old Hudson Bay voyageur, that we might have avoided this portage if we had landed on the left hand side, as what we supposed was the mainland was really an island, behind which a small channel existed which can be run with comjtarative safety. Rabbit River. Haifa mile below Mountain Portage. Rabbit River comes in from the south. This stream is about two hundred feet wide and brings in a large volume of clear water. At its mouth is a largo auriferous bar, which has evidently been worked by placer miners to a considerable extent. I was, however, unable to obtain any information in roganl U) it. Below Rabbit River tho channel is clear for a couple of miles and then dancing white-caps on ahead indicate the presence of another rapid. In the next mile the river alternately narrows in and ex- pands three times, and falls over short but strong ritlles at each constriction, all of' which can etvsily be avoided, if necessary, by i MccoNNEu.] MoUTII OF ItEASE RIVER TO THE OEVCt.'s PORTAUE. 41 I. milking portages a fow yards in length. The behaviour ot' the water ill the (lilatecl basins between the narrows is somewhat peculiar, as it seems, viewed from the l)ank, to be running in all dirertions and to be split into a network of cross currents. At the lower narrows three ugly looking whirljiools are formed i)y the rapidly contracting stream wiiirlr-il-. endeavouring to crowd its wa3' through its narrowed channel, while the water sucked down by the whirlpools is thrown up a little farther down in huge boils and with a sound resembling the rumbling of dis- tant thunder. The whirlpools occur near the left side ami can be passed in safety by keeping to the right l)ank. From Cranbcrrv Portage to Whirlpool Canon, the point now reached Kuc'ks hetwoen m the description ot the river, numerous exposures ot the same shale Porium' an.l I . I , . . 1 1 .1 1 1 Wliirlpoi>' sandstone and conglomerate series previously described are every where Cimom. present, and to the heterogeneity of this formation are mostly due the numerous rapids which occur on this portion of the river, the harder bands narrowing in and tlamming back the stream, while the .softer and more easily eroded parts have acquired a more uniform slope. The shales and associated beds are everywhere greatly disturbed and usually dip at high angles. They have a ger.eral .southeasterly strike. At Whirlpool Canon the shales disappear and are replaced by a shaly by'nmeHone.*^ variety of limestone. From Whirlpool Canon the river flows swiftly around a sharp bend, at the extremity of which it receives Coal Eiver, and aftei- a cleai- course of le.ss than four miles, plunges over the rapids at Portage Hrulc. Coal River is a small, clear stream about a hundred feet wide, Coal Rivor. and is interesting on account of the quantity of lignite which it brings down. At the time of our visit a bar at its mouth was thickly strewn l-iRnite at ^ with large angular and apparently little-travelled blocks of this min-hiver! " eral. The fresh appearance of the lignite induced me to spend part of a day, while the men were packing acrcss I'ortage Bruit?, in explor- ing for the bed from which it originated, but a walk of several miles up the stream failed to reveal its jiresence in situ, although an abund- ance of drift fragments was everywhere noticed. The lignite is of in- ferior quality. It is soft and shows a well-marked woody structure. The banks of Coal River, as far as my examination extended, are low, and consist of uncemcnted sands, clays and gravel, like those holding the lignite beds above the Little Caiion. This formation is of irregular thickness, but of wide distribution, as it was observed tilling depressions in the older rocks all the way from the mouth of the Dease to the passage of the Rockies. Portage Brult5 is nearly two miles long, and leads across a nearly Portii^oBrul''. level, well wooded flat, which, at the upper end of the portage, is only elevated a few feet above the surface of the river, but at the lower end 42 D tlEOLOQlCAI. AND NATIRAL HISTORY SUBVEY OF CANADA. Rapiils nt Pcrtiipo linilts Riioks lietnccii \Vliirli"u ai'rying their packs up the hill, were seized with a panic caused by 'iio supposed approach of a band of liostile Indians, and, abandoning their outtit, Hetl for iiafety down the river. In the succeeiiing year Mr. Robert Campbell fouiui the goods in the same position in which they had been left. The rapids at I'ortuge Brule do not look so formidable as those at the -Mountain Portage, and if I had examined them bofoi-e making the portage I would has'c been strongly tempted to try and run them with the empty boat They are about two miles long, anil are caused by numerous limestone blocks and small islands obstructing the channel. At the lower end the river is narrowly contincd by high vertical clitl's. The rocks observed along the river from Whirlpool Canon to the lower end of Portage Brille consist altogether of ditt'ercnt varieties of lime- stone. This occurs in scnne ]tlaces in massive boils, ranging in texture from compact to moderately crystalline. In other plactes it becomes very impure and shaly, and often passes into imperfectly developed calc schists. No fossils were obtained from it. but it has u close litho- logical resemblance to the limestone, occuring above Cranberry Eapids. and to ihe Castle Mountain^ group of the Bow River section. and i-^ probably of Carabro-Silurian ago. After freeing ourselves from the rapids at Portage Brub'. no farther obstacles to navigation were encountered until the Devils Portage was reached. Tiie river is wide and tilled with low islands and bars, some of which are auriferous. McCullough's Bar, on which gold in paying t|Uantitie^ was first li-eovereil on the Fjianl, occurs in this vicinity, but 1 wa> unable to identify it. The I'ivor valley is now lined with rows of terraces rising up to a height of sevei'al hundred feet, and clolhod in unwooded jiortions by as luxuriant a growth ot'grasses and vetches as I have ever seen in any part of the country. Behind the terraces is a gently undulating region, occasionally swelling into elevations of from l.liOO to 1.5(t0 feet in height, and everywhere densely forested, chiefly with white spruco To the eastward the elevations increase in height and frctpieniy uniil they mei'ge into the range of the Rocky Mountains, the dimouiline of which can now be seen along the eastern horizon. This part of the country judging t'rom the luxuriance of the vegetation and the character of the soil, seems well adapted lor agricultural pur- poses, but the complete absence of climatic statistics render any posi- WiCONNELL ■] MOITII UK PEASE RIVER TM THE DEVIL S ruRTAOE. 43 i> inou'li of Smith Uiver. ,-cr lu'low Fur' llalki'ft. tivo statements in thif odiinoction premature. On the present trip ai tho Little Canon, laruje snuw banks were obsorviMl in sliellored jilaees along the baniis of the river as hito as the liSth ot'.liine. It must lie boi'ne in mind, however, that the spring of 1887 in this part of tlie country was an exeeptionaly late one. Ten miles below Portage Hnll^, Smith Kiver comes in from tho north. 'Phis is a small stream about one hun. Xo fossils wei'e found in them. From Fort Halkett the mountains appear (juite close and the river runs swiftly in an K. S, l\. direction straight towards a narrow gap whicli now appears in their raidcs. Before entering this we pass, on the right-hand side, the mouth of Riviere des Vents. This river comes from a large lake a few miles south of Fort Halkett, from which the tish siipplj' of the post was olitained. Itcutsoti" from the main range a steep sided, massive looking mountain, which I luimed Mt. Keid in honour of Mr, Reid, the Hudson's Bay oliicei' at present in charge of Fort Providence and an old ti'aveller in these regions. From Hivit^rc des Vents we approached the gap cautiously, on the lookout tor the Devil's (lortage and rapiiU, which were reported to exist in its neigh- bourhood, but. much to our sur[u'i-e, passed through witb.out hindrance, and in a fewminutes found ourselves among the rolling foothills on the eastern >ide of the range. The nvtuntains here are n.arrowed to a single range, and even this, a few miles north of the river, is so reduced in heiijrht that it can scarcelv bo distiniruished from the ordinary ridges of the district. To the south tlic range is much wicU'r and tlio river seems to skiit the northern extremity ol what may be considered the main division of the Rocky Mountain system. The Rocky .Mountains, regarded as foi'ining the eastern mountain system of the Cordillera, are consequently interruptef.\TltRVI. ritSTdllV SIHIVEY OK CANAHA. i ! Rocks in innunt'iin^ LimcstoMOf repliiccd l).v ihiilos. Rounded hills eust of iiioun- taiiis. KiviT smooth. Trout River. inouiitiliM I'ani,^' jM'ulialily iivcriiiios tlirouijlunit abiuil tit'ly miles; and its main |)hy>.icjil and o;o<>li\tjii'al Iwituros are almost identical in all parts ot' its lon<:;lli. WIumc tlio particular lino of crumplinu' and upheaval ol' tho earth's crust to which this rango is duo dies away at the Liard. anotiior similar line ho^'ins. nearh' in the same latitude, hut about eighty miles farther to tho east. The nu)untain rant^e produced hy thio new lino of disturbance extends noi'lhward nearly parallel to the y;eiuiral eoiirso of the Mackenzie to I ho Arctic Ocean. South of the liiard tiie bare limestone ridi(0s are ranij;od in parallel lines, and are surmounted by shai'|) /.i^/.n^ Unife-edii;es, or ja^i^ed serrated crests. Tlie ridfi,-es have a fjonorai strike of N. Hd' W. The spur of tlie mountains wiiieh crosses the river consists of {.'•eyish and moderately compact limestone. The beds are at lii-i m'.iiosI horizontal, but are soon thrown into almost vertical a'= ...>ieK. and have tho appearance of a shar]) anticlinal. Several of the e.;\,!). uio.. were examined unsu"cossfully for fossils, and the only rpecime. ;"f>.'t8d here consist of some fraijmonts of corals which \'i • foci... ^e :'.t the mouth of Eivii^ro dos Vt-nts, and resemble those Ol i-' 111 .1 'iio Intormediato limestone of tho Bow River sec- tion. The limestones are exposed aloni; tho river for six miles, and are then covered with dark shales similar to those from which Triassic fossils were afterwards obtained. It is noteworthy that in tho fjiard section dark shales of Mosozoic age are found restiuiron t>oth tlanUs of the mountains, and are not confined to the eastern slope, as is the case farther south. Kast of the passatje of tho Rockies the mountains ifiadually recede from tho river towards the south, and are replaced by higli roundodand well wooded hills and ridges built of dark shales, numerous exposures of which occur all along the banks of the river. Tho shales undulate at all angles, and do not appear to have any predominating dij) in towards the mountains siicii as characterizes them in other localities. They are interstratitied in places with beds of ([uartzite, and are, so far as 1 could learn, completely unfossiliferous. Since leaving Portage BruK'^ tiie river lias ronuiined wonderfully smooth, anu we had tho pleasure of passing one night away from the roar of a rapid, and without the usual prospect of having the next morning either to run a rapid or make a portage. Tho river has hero an average width of four hundroil yards, and a steady current of about four miles and a half an hour. it is bordered in places by long gravel and sand beaches, and encloses occasionally wooded islands. Ten miles east of the gap, Trout lliver joins the Liard from the south. This is a ■1 THE HEX II, 'a PORT.AiiK TO HEM, (}.\TE. ■tr> l> swift, clear mouiituiii stirain aliout a hiindmi and tifty lei't wide. whicli sooins to cut back into aiul drain the coiitral ••an,i,'Os. IJclow Trout Itivor the I.iard hciids ahrwptly to tiie north lor Konie distance, and then, turnini^ to tiie cast continues on witii an ever increasint,' cur- rent hotwcen hanks wliich f^raduully hecoine stcepci' and hii^hcr. until they develop into u wiile oafion. We had hecn on the lookout for the Devil's liapids over since leavini,^ the Jiivicie des Vent-, antl a- tlie threateninir apjiearance ol river anands at once to over half a luilc in wiillh. atriiiiic iriiMi-'C ol' iT|MirlOi The J)evii/s I'oiiTAuE to I1ei,i, (Iate. The portage aci'oss the bend proved, greatly to oui' .satisfaction, lo be less than four miles in length instead of twelve, as wo hud boon in formeii and expected, it is however very ditUcult, as it passes over a riilgo fully a thou.sand teet higli. on both sides of which tiie slopes are exceedingly steep. The (dd jiortage track was easily followow one for on ■- selves. This iiack was cleared out l)y Msssrs Mct'ullough and Tlii- bert. in ISTl tor tlie purpose (d' iiauling their boat across, and it spoak> somewhat favorably fiir the activity of foi'est growtli in tliis region, that it slioiild now lie covered with shrubs and small trees several inches in diameter. Dov.l's PorliiK'-'. i 4G I) OEOLOOIOAL AM) NATURAL HtSTORY SURVEY OF CANADA. Abuiiilanoe inODHu. I I KiR MP ClUlTil boat. :of fn crossing tlic pui'Ui^^e wo started sovoral nioo.se, and it may lie men- tioned hero that the eountry we iiave boon pa.ssing throujrh und as far on as Hell Gate, is ])iol)iiliiy the best moo.se eouiitiy in North Ameiica. Everywhere we landed, Ircsh tracks in almndanee were oliserved. Wo Icilled one at the month of liivici'edes Vents, ami another farther down near Crow lliver. ami could iiave shot a niimljor ol others if wo had so desired. At the " Kapiil- of the Drowned" we searoil three into the river. Init these unfortunately attem])ted to swim the rapids ami were drowned. They were found afterwards some ilistanco below lodged in a drift jdlo. Their abundance is due to the liict th.at the eountry is practically uninhabited. After leaving the Little Canon wc Haw no Indians nor any traces of them, such as old camps, abandoneil canoes, old cuttings. iVc, anywhere along the river. The country in iiuestion ibrms a kind of neutral ground between the Indians trading east and west of the mountains, and is also ditHcult of access on iiccount of the danger in navigating the river. The absence of Indians and the con- se(|Uent immunity from hunting enjoyed by the moose, since the abandonment of oM Fort Ilalkett, has resulted in a great natural in- crease in their numbers. 15esidos, as they are persistently hunted in the adjoining country on either side of the mountains, by the bands of Indians trading at Fort Liard, and at the mouth of Dease river respec- tively, many of them musteseape into this district as into 'a city of re- fuge." The beaver are also abundant, and liki' the moose, appear to have thriven in the absence of their hereditary enemies, (xrizzly bears were reported to be esj)ecially common on the Devil's Portage, but wo did not meet with any. We sjient altogether si.K days on the Devil's Portage crossing our outfit and framing a boat. Wo found that it would bo impossible to cut out a track and haul our heavy wooden boat up the steep hills on the portage without wasting more time than wc coidd well spare, and decided, somewhat reluctantly, to abandon it. To meet such an emergenc}' I had provided myself, before leaving Ottawa, with a roll of stout canvas sewn up in the shaj)e of a boat, and this we at once proceeded to put into shape. It was stretched on a stout plank hewn out of a small pine tree. Spruce poles, to which tiie canvas was tirmly sewn, were used as gunwales, and willow withes for rib.s, while sli])s to lay between the ribs and the canvas wore easily cut. We painted the canvas with half a gallon of oil, which had bees brought for the purpose, but this did not prevent it from leaking badly, and wo were obliged to give it a second coat, made up of everything oleaginous which we still possessed. This mixture consisted of sperm candles, gun oil and bacon grease, stirred up with spruce gum, and »• CONNELL, ■] THE DEVH/S PORTAOE TO HELL liATE. 17 I) proved ortbclivo in koepin/i; out the water. Our now bout was not well adapted tor riii.nin^ liea%'y raj)id.s, especially whore sudden turn- liud to bo made to avoid rocks, but was quite serviceablo in ordinary water and on easy rilties, and was. Itesides, liLfht and easily ])ortaji;od. Below the Devil's J'orta^fc for thirty or forty miles the river IIowh (iraii.iCan.ri. through what is called the Geand Canon, bulls more correctly a succes- sion of short canons, with expaniloiil is forniod by the water plunirint; with itn wlmlo I'oi'co, ovor a Icilyc ol" rock which curves outwards and downwards from the iol'l iiand bani\, into a hoilinif clntudiire behind. The name f)f the rapid originated tr closed in by a iiard sand- stone bank, through a narrow gap in which it forces with dif- ficulty a stormy ])assage. An examination of this convinced me of the impossibility of running it at the jiresent high stage of the water with a boat such as we possessed, and also disclosed the unwelcome fact that a number of similar obstructions e.xistod ahead. In the no.\t four miles the river is closely cafioned in, five times, and falls ovor a number of rillles. Only some of these are dangerous, but we wt're forced to poi'lage around the whole reach, owing to the sleoj)ness of the banks and the impossibility of getting down to the bottom of the valley, except at a few ])oints. Three miles of rapid current fol- lowed, and then we reached Hell (Jate. so named because it is the en- trance from below, to the wild jiortion of the river we have been descending. At this point there is an abandoned channel on the left hand side, which is navigable in high water, and affords an easy pas- sage through. From the Devil's Portage to JIoU Gate the rocks noticeil on the ami iuii (iate, liaid'Cs of the river consist mainly of shales, with bands of sandstone at intervals, and occasionally some limestone. Exposures of the latter oc- cur at the ea-^t end of the Devil's J'ortage, where they are brought up by an anticlinal from iielow the shales. They are here greyish in colour, are moderately crystalline, and hold fragments of crinoids and other Ibssils. and evidently belong to the upper part of the Pa- lieozoic series of the mountains. This series was not observed far- ther east. The shales are usually rather hard and weather into high bold dill's, which often border the river on either side for miles with- out a break. They are dark in colour, and as a rule are rullier coarse- ly laminated, but vary greatly in this respect and also in their texture. The shales undulate at all angles, and are continuously exposed all the flclKiMto. Kockf lictwcci Devil'? Pnrtiine ■] THE I'EVII,'^ I'oRTAiiE T'* IIEI.L '.ATE. •H> I' way ilnwii 111.' rarioii. Tlu'V are intoi^tratitifd witha lmitoiie. 'I'liu •.andHlono .)C'C'ur-< ill liaiids, wlii'li I'onu coii-tri'tii'ii- wlu-'.v thoy ero-s tlio river, and ill tlio adjoinin:;- i-(»\iiitiy iIm' intn liii,'li liilU ai:d ridiji's. Tlic liiiifstont's assoeiati'd with the shalo^ are iHually impuio and (tcfui- a.t a rule in tliin slialy lieds. hut iieavily hedded va^i'■tie^ were also oh>ei'vod at Hull (rate and at other |ilaces. No fossils were ohtained in de>ceiidiiig the eafiou until the ' Rapids Tiiii,«^ie lu-ll^ of the Drowned" were reaehed, where the following -.[.eeies, siiieo criuf'd or deterinineil liy Mr. Whiteaves and referred by Idm to the Trias, were obtaiiu'd. ■• Spirifcrtna boredlis, Whiteaves. Tcrt'l'i'dtiila Liiirclnsis, Jlonotis ocalis, " JIatobia (Daotietla) Lommell', Wi^sman. Jfnlobia occiilentdlis, Whiteaves. Xautilu.-i Llardensis, •' PofKinocents McConndli, " Trachijceras Caxadense, " Some miles farther down at the lower end of the la-t canon before coming to llell (Jate, a soeond fossil loeality was tliscovered which yielded the following siiccies. T'.rebnttula Litinlensis, Whiteave-^. Tri(jonoihis .' jvoductus, '" Manjarita Triassicii, Popatioceras McConnelU, At Hell (late three miles below the last, specimens were obtained of— Trachijceras Canadensc, Whiteaves. Terebratula Liardeiisis, "' The localities from which Triassic fossils were obtaincfl, extend along the river for ten miles, but it is highly juobable that tiie rocks of this age have a much wider ilistribution than this and include the greater part of the barren shales above the •' IJapiils of the Drowned," as well as those below Hell ('iate. It will require, however, more time than could lie spared on a rapid reconnai-^ance. to separate precisely the shales which cap the Paheozoic from those of the Trias, ' t'oniributiuiis to C^inailiaii I'.ila'onluli.i-'y, Vol. I, Pan II. page? V.7-119. 511 1) UEnl.iMlICAl, AND NATUKAL HtSTnltV 8IRVEV uK CANADA. anil tlio lattor fi'Dm (lie rrt'taccoiis. 'I'lio tlirci- li'iriiin.w arc olv nllicil litlioldgically and will havi' to Ijl' dcliin-'il hii-i^i'ly from fossil eviduiici'. II KM. I ■ ATE ■{'!• h'^IlT l-IAUD. fi' iver IjoIow oil Uute. Foot-hills. Kivcr(>.i«l (if tbot-liills. Ivscapiiii; t'l'oiii lloll listaeles to naviLjalion iiiitil near its month. I*'ive miles helow the canon the iindiilaiion- in the >hale> and associated sand-tones and limestone- cease, and ai liie -;ime time therid<;'\' and hilly f(jot-hill district wo have heen |)a— ini;' tlnoiiifji is rejilaced ly a rci,non ot' hi<^h irr.'niihir jiljiteaii-. The tliotdiills ah)nL;' the Liard have a widtii of :;S iniles. and arc characteri/.cd hy amueh greater irre^'iUarity in altitude than is ii-ually the e:ise. South of the Devil's Forlai,'o, Mount rnidenei-. ; 'eejj-sidod, redilish looking mountain, rise- iihriiptly from a siirrou •ofroiiml loi)ped hills to an e-timatcd hei_!,'hl of over d.Diltl t'eet. ( cast from Mount I'riidciice, lower elevations prevail until near the '• lia|iids »[' the l)rowned" where the ridgos ai,Min eommenee to increase in eleva- tion, and in a few miles eiUminate in peaks over 4,000 feet hiuh. Still goinu' east they gradually diminish in importance and at last die away iind are replaced ly tlat-loppcd plateaus. Tin- region with the e.\ccp- tion of the higher peaks, is oveiywhero densely forested, idiielly with the white spruce, the hanksian pine and the aspen. Attei' leaving the fiotdiill country the river runs in ageiiei'al direc- tion of N. 30° Iv for thii'ty miles. In this icuh it has a steaily cur- rent of about four miles and a hall an houi', and varies in width from five hundred yards to over a nule. In the wider portions the river is usually divided into several channels by islands and bai's. The valley is nari'ow and iroughdike, with steep sitles lising up in places to a height of fully a thousand feet. The bottoms are usually small, and are here chietly woodeil by members of the poplai' lamili*. Some im- portant t I'ibutaries are received by the Liard in this portion of its course, amcuig which is Crow River, wdiich joins it from the north after entering the plateau countiy, and Toad Rivei', which comes in from the south through a deep gloomy valley four miles faither down. Two miles below Toiid Iiiver, on the opposite side, is situated Toad ] IIEl.I. (»ATE To KnllT l,[AIU«. r.l [> I{iv»'i' post, wliiili \vi> al>iiiiil()iu'il wlioii the pnst on tin' Xi-Uon w;i«. o-talili>lioil. Tlio ljiiililiiiif.-> aro still standing. 'I'Ir' ,i,a'o|uii:y (tf till' plaloau Ih'Ii is oxccodiiiyly >iin|ilo. Tiio haiiUs oftlio valley arc usually ^iai|ii'il, and show ovorywlicro extonsjvo sor- (ioiis of tlat-lyiiif? slialos. Those -halt's aro dark in colniir, arc soft and liiiely lamiiiatL'il, and aro iiitorstratitiod witli small hods of saiid>toin' and irnii-totic. and layorxif iroiislnnc nodules. Thoy aro of ( 'rolacoous avfo, but thoir nindo of juiiction with tho Triasnic siialos of tlio loot- hills was not tdoarly a»oortainod. Soini' fos>ils woro oollcrtod from tills formation ahout four niilos bolow Toad Kivcr, anion;;; which aro h|iucimons (»f I'lacenticercK Pcrczlanuiit. a spucios of ('ainptonerffs, and fragments of an lnoci'ramii.<. Towards tho eastern jjart nf the iiliit(!au belt the shales alony" tho river are overlain liymassivo hods of soft sand- stone and conu.'lomorate, whi(di form a stoe|i escarpment riinnini;' jiurdlel with the river. At ihcfiid of the northerly reach just described, the river, here over ;i mile wide and tilled with islands, bends suddenly at riij;ht anodes to it- tln'nioi' course, an I al'tci' jta-siiii^ tliroui,'h a narrow ^ap, enters a much iowei' country. Thosleo[) - ;ir|)ed banUs of the plateau district disa]>pear. and arc replaced by i;HMitly inclinod hillsides covei'ed with forest, while the I'ivor spreads out and flows for some miles in a multi- tuile of channels throu^'b a bewildoi 'n^ maze of islands. The eastci'ii edi;e of the |.lateau district faces eastward with a -tccji ^lope. and ha- ;i liei,i;dit oi .vera thousand foot. It runs nearly due north and south and torni- an important feature in the f^oneral topo^-raphy ol' the country. Whore it crosses the rivor it -hows exposures of soft conglomeratos dippiiiif lightly in an ea-terly direction. I']a-t ot tlii- escarpment Beaver liiver joins the fjiard from the north. Tliis is reported to be a fair sized stream and to be navigable for euiioes for a long distance. It empties into the \Anvi[ behind a group of islands and wo passed it without seeing it. Near its mouth wo saw Iiidians for the tirst lime since leaving the mouth ot the i)ea-e. Tlioy belonged to Ft. Liard, and were on their way up the Beaver to hunt. We endeavored to buy some moat from them, but found that they were totally unac([uaintod with the u-c of money, and as we were not supplied with trading goods, or. in fact, with anything except what we wore, it was found impossible to strike a bai'gain. East of the Beaver the Liaril runs in a south-easterly dii'cction for a tew miles and makes a couple of sharp bends bef()re joining tho Xels(jn. In tho tir>t of these bends we met a crew of Hudson Bay voyagours in charge of W. Lepino. who were endeavouring to make their way up the river to the mouth of the Doase. l-cpinc had been omployod on •jiiiT lowur ■'luntry. D^'avcr llivcr. Muct [rnliiins fnr lir-t time. .Mei't crow ol II. B. vov.incur.-'. I 52 D UEOI.oOICAIi AND NATIKAL IIISTdKY SI RVEY OF CANADA. Send men Im up river. Nelson River, Fort Nelson. the river as a guide, in the old days when goods wore taken liy this route to the Yukon, ami was well ae([uaintcd with it. lie lirought news of a seareity of provisions iri the Maeken'/ie fJiver District, and '^ this dei-ided nie to >end my two men haeic iij) tiie river witii him, and to depend on the services of natives for oanocmen in the future. Lejiine luul heeome disheartened by the continued liigh water and the ditliculties of upstream navigation, and when we met him talked of returning, but wo imluced him to persevere. A small spruce bark canoo which an Indian and his wife built in an at'ternoon, in addition to the large birch canoe which ho alreaily possessed, I'urnishcd sutlicient accommodation for his increased jiarty. and on the 2Sth July, after a day's delay, ho jirocceded up the livor. I afteiwards learned that with the exception of one u[)set, caused by the unskilifulness of Trepanier, one of my men, the journey was successfully accomplished and i'ease River reached in sat'ety. After separating from Lupine I continued down the river to Fort Liard in the canvas boat, at tirst in company with an Indian, but for the greater part of the distance entirely alone. After starting we rounded a large bend and then continued in a n^iriherly tlirection to the mouth of the Xelson, or east branch of the Liard. Nothing has been published concerning the Nelson, but it is reported to lie a somewhat sluggish river of about one hundred and fifty or two hundred ^-arils in width. A hundred miles above its mouth is situated Ft. Nelson, a Hudson Bay trading post. Above the Fort the river divides into two branches, one of which, named Burtalo River, turn» west to the mountains, while the other continues on and interlocks •with tributaries of Hay River. ■''■ In 1872-73 a party ot miners ero.ssed from Peace River to the Liar i'e|torted to produce a het- ter ijrailo of tiinlier than any other part of the Mackenzie district. Below the Xel.ioii the Liai'd has a ijronei'al northerU- direction foi Liiir.iijolow the 1 111 ^' f Nel-iOM. thirty miles, and then, bending more to the east. toUows a >.h. cmirse as far as Fort Liard, tiiiee:' miles fai-ther down, whei'e I arrive I on July 2'Jth. In this reach it has unilulaiiiig shore lines, but is generally wide and filled with sandbars and wooded islands. It is bordered in many places with wide alluvial tlats, covered with tall, straight cotton- wood, and lai'go s])ruce. and canoe birch. Its valley is wide and shallow and lined with tjently sloping, spi-uceclad bank-*. On some of the flats the Indians have built houses, and fenced in small plots for fiirming purposes, for whi(li the greater part of this section of the dist I'ict seems well adapted. We passed one small Indian t'ai'm about thirteen lulian farms, miles l.ielow the mouth of the Nelson, and another one at the mouth of Fishing Creek, a few miles above Fort Lianl, while other- were no- ticed in the lower part of the river. The two principal tributaries of the I.iard lietween the Nelson and Trii.icarieaof Fort Liard are Kiviere la Biclie and Black River. The former enters ' ' ' itfri>m the N.NV., about twen'y miles below the Nelson, and the latter from the S.F. at Fort Liai' I. Black River is the outlet of Lake Bis-tcho, a lai'ge lake situated about 120 miles S.S.W. of Fort Provi- dence, and is repihal which occur- in Vancouver 1-huid in rocks of a similar age. The (luaternurv denosils in this iiart of the river are represented by Q,i;it,.ninry stratified sands and gravels, immediately overlyJng the shale-, an! by "•neissic erratics, which are distributed everywhere over the surface of the countiy, and in some i)laces, as at the mouth of Black River, are present in great profusion. The western limit of the eastern drift 54 D GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY' SCRVEY OF ( AXADA. Roc It J' Mountnins Absence (if foot-hill-. Climb riincc. EMtern drift, along the Liard, judging from the river section, appears to lie nearly coincident with the eastern edge of the ]i]ateau district, although gnessic fragments wore Ibund in the niountain.s ()i(po.sitc Fort Liard at a somewhat higher elevation. Thirty miles below the Xelson, the Liard apjiroarhes and for the next seventy-five miles hugs closely, a chain of mountains which may ho considered as a northern division of the Eocky ^lountain system, and as the complement oi'the chain around tiio northern end of which the Liard passes wi'St of the Devils I'ortage. The mt)untains are not fringed wit li a licit of foot-hills, sucii as usually accompany them in other places, but rise abruptly' fi'om an altno.-t level plain, and attain at once their full height of about 4,000 feet. I'he folds and fracture to whicii the mountains are due also seem to die away with stai'tling rapidity. The Liard for titloen miles above HlacU IJiver, cuts at a dis- tance of two to live miles directly across the strike of the ranges, and yet tiie iiods along its valley wlierever >ecn are practically iin'is- turbcd. While waiting at Fori Liard J climbed one of the ranges to a heigiii of ;],()00 feet, but obtained little geological information!. The rocks were only exposed in a few places, and where seen consisted <)f westerly di])i)ing unfossilifcrous chert and clierty limestone, (ineissic I'ragments ajiparently belonging lo the eastern drift were I'ound up to a height (^f over 1,50(1 leot. 1 obtained, liowevei-, an extensive view from the summit, over the plains to the eastward. The country in that direc- tion rises gradually from the river in eas^- undulation-, and appears to culminate at a distance of iwenty-tive or thirty miles in a low plateau through which IJIack lliv>)r has cut a wiilegap. A dense foivsi relieved in places iy gleaming lakes anil light green jnarshes stretches to the hori/.on. To the north and noi'th-west the eye is met by a succession of bare topped and nearly parallel limestone I'idges striking about N. L'O" W, and reaching elevations of from -l.OOO to 5,000 feet. Fort Liard is at present the only fort on tlie Liard below the mouth of the Dease, and is resorted to for trailing purposes Iy about two hun- dred Indians^ nuist of whom are known as Xahanni ov .Mountain Indians. I'nder this term are included a number of tribal divisions of the Tinneh family, but the names of these I was unable to obtain. They are rejiorted to be fast dying olV, The fort is sitiuited on a fertile flat, ]iart of which has been cultivated tbr years with unt'ailing success, Wlieat and barley are grown here year after year, while )iotatoes, eaiib- ages, turnips and other vegetables are raised without the least ditticulty. At the time of my visit, 1st August, all the crops were well advamed and in good eondition; the barley was just turning colour, and the po- tatoes were almost large enough to eat. i'herc is no reason, cither View from tn| of moiiiitiiin. Afrricultmal resources. ■i McCONNElL.] FORT T-IARD TO FORT SIMl'SON. 0.) D climatk- 01- otherwise, why the whole eountiy hordering tlie Liard, from Beaver River to near its moutli, should not. when needed, sup- port an ai^ricultural community. Fort Liard to Fort Simi'Son. 1 was delaye.l several days at l'"ort F/iard het'ore I could engage an Indian to accompany me down the river, but having at last succeeded, and also having exchanged my canvas boat for a hark canoe, I re- sumed niv journey on the "ith August. From i^'<.rl Liard the river lias a north-ea-lorly eour>e for live "^'l^'^. {.VJ^'lJ!,';';,'.^" and then bending to the N.KW., runs lor over twenty miles nearly ])ai'allel to the ea>ternm()st range of the mountains, after which, while still preserving the same general direction, it makes a couple of great bends to the ea>t before joining tiie Nahanni River at the foot of the Nahanni Ihitte. it has in this reach a general width of four to five hundred yai'ds, aud a current of about four miles anil a half an houi'. Islands and bar^ are of constant occurrence, and divide the river in many places into numerous channels. The valley depression for some distance below the fort is insigniticant in size, and farther down disap- pears altogether, and the river undulates through a low, level plain, elevated only a few feet above it> surfaandstone, evidently belonging to the Black River Inorerami bearing series of shales and sandstone. This was the last Cretaceous exposure noticed in descending the river. In the next nine miles no rocks were observed, and then a small >ection of limestone shows that we have passed over tiie junetion between the Cretaceous, and the Bevono-Carboiiiterous. The coiuoalment of the beds alom;- this part of the river made it impossible to deeide fiom the Liard section alone whether the Triassic beds which underlie the Cre- taceous on the western side of tiie Cretaeeous basin, underlie them also on the eastern si eight miles below the one just nole.l. The iieds are here inelined at a low angle, and are fossil iferous. From the specimens collected, .Mr. Whiteaves has identitied the following forms: A Streptorluinchus of the type of S. umhi-'icaluni : two ribbed species of Spin'/era, one of wiiicli 1 1 56 D QEOI.nOirAI. AND NATl'RAL HISTORY SURVEY OF CANADA is very like .S'. '^entronota. Winclioll : a smooth Spin'ft'rn of the JLtrfinia Heotion. j)roltubly identical with S. sethjiTa, Hall, hut elosoly related to S.Jimbriata, (Ajnrad ; Athijrissubquailriifa. JIall : a new t^^pvc'tes uf Plat//- cera.s ; and Froeius perocci'lens. Hall \' WhittieM. The general fdcvVs of this fauna seems to indicate a horizon intermediate hetween the De- vonian and Carboniferous, and probably e(iuivaleiit to the Waverly group. Continuing down the i-ivei' stratified sands were observed at the elbows of most of the bends, but the limestone i- not again exposed until the Xahanni liutte is reached. Nahiinni Butte. Tlie Xahanni Butte, called also Mount MePherson, after the gentle- man who first ascended it, stands at the conHuence of the Nahaiini River with the Liard, and has been carved out of the twisted end of the easternmost range of the Rockies. It is easily reached from the river, and on this account I determined to s])end part of a day in climb- ing it. I took up a small aneroid barometer, which gave the height as View from 3!^t]5 feet. From the summit much the same chtiracter of countrv was summit lit NalKiniii Butte, displayed as that prevituisly seen from the ridge opposite Fort Liard. To the S. and S.E. a wooded plain dotted with lakes and marshes, and, with the exception of three small buttes whieli. formed a miniature moiintiiin ran-e almost at our feet, without conspicuous elevations, stretches as far as the eye can >ee, while in tin opposite direction the prospect showed range after range of ijare and rugged liniestone peaks, among which the Nahanni River pursued a tortuous course nntil lost in the distance. The ranges here, while preserving a gene- ral parallelism, are more tiian usually irregular in this respect, and in some cases follow a very zigzag course. The general strike is nearly due north and the general dip of the beds westerly. A groujj of hi'j;h ])eak>, which liore tilmost west, were observed to he ])artly covered with snow, and were estimated to rise to aii elevation ot between live and six thousand feet. In tiio*Xah!iniii Butte three rock serie- tire clearly defined. In the lower part is a great thickness, probably ti (•ou]>le of thousand feel, of coarse grtiined magnesian limestones. The>e limestones are heavily bedded and often show the striped and cavernous appearance so characteristic of the more massive varieties ot the Ciistle Mountain group, to whirh they undoubtedly iiflong. ("ojiper >tains were noted in a number of places, but no specimens indicating deposits of econo- mic value were ol>tained. The limestones are overlain In' several hun- dred foci of black, finely fissile shales, which occuj)}- the same relative position as the < ira])l()liti(; shale- of the Kicking Horse Pass, but are not tbssiliferous. Above the -hales and forming the top of the moun- tain comes a series of light vellowish and greyi-h mtigne-itin and or- dinary limestones. These limestones yielded some iniperfect iiud Nahanni Butt sectiuii. ! ■■] KORT IJ.VBD TO KORT SIMPSON. 57 n t scarcely determinable fossil., umon^ which i. u cnral which shows the external character. ..f the Carl.oniferou. genus ^tyla.^^^. hut the internal structure has not heen preserved. A specimen of limestone from this series collected hy Mr. McPherson and shown to Nr . . Richardson, is descrihed l.y the latter as being similar to that which outcrops inthe " liock hy the River's Side - on the [aclcen.u-. This would place it in the Devonian. A salt spring, with a basin ti tteen -" • M.n. feet in diameter, is reported by Sir J. Ricliardson on the aullw.n y o Mr. McPherson, as existing on the top of the mountain, but this I di. not succeed in finding. A neighbouring mountain, however, sliowed u white patch on its steep side which is plainly due to the -lepoMts ot a mineral spring of some kind, and may be the one referred to. ^.^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ From theNahanni Butte and River the Liard bends more to the east, jj.un.nni liutto. and for the next sixty or seventy miles follows a general cast north- easterly course. la the first section, extending to the "(rrand Reach a distance of twentv-five miles, it is wide and somewhat tortuous and encloses several large islands. The valley is insignificant m size, and where cut into at the bends of the river, sh.nvs small section^ ot strati- fied sands only. The general features of the country here and tor some distance above the Xahanni River, seem to showlthat the river along this purt of its course flows through a lake basin which formerly existed at the toot of the mountains, but is now silted up. It is worth noting tliat the Mackenzie passes for some distance through the same Htvle of depressed alluvial country when approaching the northerly extension of the same range sixty miles below Vi. Simpson, and it is just possible that the depression follows the base of the chain throagh- ""'The Long Reach is a beautiful stretch „f gently flowing water of f""*'^'-''- something over fifteen miles in length, and has an average width ot tally a thousaml vanls. It is nearly straight, and a view down it disrloses a long vista oV smooth, glassy water which exten^ls to the horizon, and is bordered by a succession of low wooded points which stretch out -me behind the other until they fade away in the distance. Its valley is .hallow and rises Inun the water's edge. At the lower end ot tins reach there is a decided rise in the general elevation of the country. which is at once made evident by the increased depth of the valley, while at the same time the river becomes narrowe.^ and its cui-rent swifter The sun. and f,.r the b.r.t appear- first time the banks show sections of undoubted! boulder .lay. A few ,..ui,ior-.-.av. miles farther down, the river, now enclosed on both sides by low cut banks makes a short bend to the east, at the elbow of which is an island with steep shale i.uiks. In the next twenty-five miles the river Roek seoti in vnllcy. Devonian uplilt. Mouth •'( LiiU'l. 58 D OEOLO(ilCAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY OF CANADA. is bordered by steep scarped hanks fi'om two to four hundred feet in heijLflit, and lias the ajipearance of a wide canon. Tiic current in this reach is everywhei-e exceeiliiigl}' swift, and for nearly ten miles ia'eaks over a succession of >troni'' ritHcs T ire ea^ilv run in a ^mall boat by keeping close to the I'iu'ht b ink, but will form rather a serious obstacle to the navigation ot the river by steambnuts. It is possible, however, that >teamers may lie taken up by lining, and once above them, the I'iver affords easy navigat loll up th mam Liraiieli a> ar as Mell are i^'rceni^ii in eolour, are )f the ana alternate aiiove witli tne limestones, wliicii torm tne top oi section. The linie>tones are gi'eyish, or light yellowi-h in culour, are moderately crystalline, and are often im]iure and pas^ into a species of calcareou- sandstone, in this rondition they oiton >how rijiple mark's, worm burrows, and other evidonces ul' a littoral origin. Fossils were found in a number of places, but are usually in a poor state of jtrcserva- tion, and the on'y forms whieh .Mr. Whileaves has identified so far are Atri/pa rcllcuhiris, and two .-iieeii.'s of Orthis. The J>evonian u]ilift which crosses the Lianl here extends far \n the southward, and is doubtless the cause of the falls and heavy rajiids whieh occur along the same line, on Trout River, Beaver River, Hay Jiiver, ButValo River, and in t'aci on all the sti'cains coming iVom the west and emptying into the Mackenzie or Great Slave Lake. It is jiossible, also, that the Vermilion Falls on Peace iliver may be due to tlie same cause. The Devonian in all this region ha> an upjicr division of hard limestone and a lower mie fif -ott siiales. an arrangement peculiarly favoiiralile for the production of falls. After passing the rapids the river continues to run with great velocity for some miles and then the cui'rent gradually moderates, and at the same time the valley loses its canon character, and for some miles cut banks are only occasionally seen. Approaching the Mackenzie the Liard turns away to the noi'th, and gradually enlarging itself, pours its tribute into the former, through an embouchure of over a mile in width. In the lower jiart of the river tlie Devonian shales and limestones disappear beneath a covering of boiilder clay and other glacial de- posits, sections of which ajipear all along, They crop out again on the right bank of the Mackenzie, opposite the .nouth of the Liai'd, but at this point they are not fos^iliferous. 1 i , w:CONNE.L.] SLAVE KIVER. 5! I D Slave Eiver. r finished tho traverse of the Liard and reached Fort Simpson on theF'^t Siuu'son. iUh AiiLCiist. This post is situated on an island at tlic junction of the Liai'd and the Mackenzie, and is the heatlntiarters of tlie Mackenzie district. I was tortiinate enougli to catch liero, after a dehiy of a few- days, tlie Hudson Bay Co.'s steamer Wrig'ley, which was ;)a its way up from Peel River, and proceede.l on it to Fort Smith, on Slave River. On the wav ui) ari'anuements were m:ido with Mr. Cunimiiiics and Mr. -^i^iki- T» • 1 1 i' ir 1 Ti /^< 1 ■ I n -^ arr.iiiv'oiiients Keid, ot the iiud-ons H.i}' Co., subject to the approval or Mi-. Cam-ell t^) winter m thechiet lactor ot the district, who was absent, to winter with Mr, lieid at Fort Pi'Mvidence, and F was thus left at liliorty to continue work a- long as the -ca>on permitted. After arriving at Fort Smith I made a trij) aero>> the po;'tage, and then embarking in a bark canoe with a.«!tart duwti couple of In lians, started ilown Slave Rivei'. This river has been used'"''^" ''^'^'^' by the tar traders for over a century, antl the Mackenzie for nearly as long, an 1 as both have been visited by numerous celebrated travellers, to whose narratives 1 will be obliged to make freipient I'efereiues. it will be necessaiy here, before proceeding with a description of the river, to give a brief account of the progress of exploration. The honour of discovering Great Slave Lake and Iliver belongs to History of 1 i • II "r 1 TT 1 111 ' . . fxpli'mtioii. that persevering traveller, >»amuel liearne, wliu reached them on his return tVoni his third and succe>st'ul journey to the mouth of the Cop- permine, liearne arrived at Great Slave Tiake on the 24th of Decern- ."•^'"""'■'^ ber, 177 1. and cro-.ing it in a leisurely manner, reached Slave IJiver on the I'lth January, 177-. He continueil up the liiver until the 27th, and then after having travelled upwards of forty miles, he " let't it at that part where it begins to trend due -.outli." and struck off to the east- ward, liearne calls the lake Athapuscow Lake, and describes it an being one hundred and twenty leagues long from east to west, and twenty wide from north to south, lie was particularly pleased at the change from the ••jumble of rock- and hilN." which cover the country north of the lake, to the •'tine level country in which there was not a hill to be seen or a stone to be found," which he met on the southern side. It is interesting to note that at the time of his vi-it this reirion swarmeK CANADA. i Friinklin's first vcjyaife. Friinklin'.- .socoaJ vi> y;ige. Back',-' ex|ieJitior. delayed on the lake Ijy ice and did not sucoeod in enterini; tiie mouth of tlio I'iver into wiiicli the lake omptiosaui' to the Pacific, an ob- ject whicli he afterwards attained by crossing the mountains liy the Peace Hiver Pass. In 1820 (,'a])tain, afterwards Sir John Fi'anklin, descended .Slave Eiver, and crossing Slave Lake to Fort Providence, which was then situated on a northern arm of the lake, started on his memorable voyage down the Co|)|)ermine to the shores of the Arctic Sea. Ho was ae- comi)arued by Dr. Kichardson and Mr. IJack, both of whom were sub- sequently knighted as rewards for their success in arctic exploration. In 1S25 Kranklin, again associated with Dr. liiciiardson and Lieutenant Back, descended Slave River and the Mackenzie to the sea, and in the succeeding summer explored :dl the Arctic coast between Eetui'n Eeef and the mouth of the Co])permine. In 1833 Captain Back was placed in charge of an expedition which was sent out to search for Sir John Ross. On this occasion he wintered at the east end of Great Slave Lake, and in lS3-i explorcil ( ireat Fish or Buck's River lV(jm its source iu Sussex Lake to the sea. Back was followed, in IS37, by Thomas Simpson, probably one of the most energetic of the many famous travellers who have worked along the confines of the frozen ocean. Simi)son (Dease and Simpson expedition) was sent by the Hudson'- Hay Co. to explore the coast between Point Barrow and Retui'u Reef, and be- tween Point Turnagain and the mouth of (ireat Slave River, This difficult service svas successfully accomplished in three seasons. In l^iS Sir John Richardson again descended the ^Eackenzie, this time in search of his formei- chief, and for the second time navi- gated the sterile coast stretching from the Mackenzie to the ("opper- mine. He was assisted in this expedition by Dr. Rao. Richard- son in his various journeys, spent altogether about seven years in the north, and has given us by far the best and most trustworthy account of the ethnology, natural history and geology of the boreal regions. Puiiei! a?oends Ricluirdson was followed bv Cai)tain Pullen, who ascon led the M:ick- eiizie in 1S41I-51, after traversing the coast between ley Cape and the mouth of the Mackenzie, prcvioudy delineated by Beechy, Elson, Simpson and Franklin, in addition to the explorers named, M. L'Abbe Petitot, a Roman Other oxpinrcrs Catholic missionary, spent a number of years travelling in the region adjoining the Mackenzie, and has ])ul'lished a map and a series of Simpson's exploration. Ricliariisiiii'j exploritiun. NNEll ] SLAVE RIVER. (Jl I) the paptT- descriliiiig tlio geology :iii(l ctluiology nt' tlie pecies of willow and alder. The Mackenzie River steamer was built here in the winter of 1887 and the timbei' used in construction was all obtained from the surrounding forest. The soil raipiil? *Sec Uulletinde la Soci'Jt<' de lieogniphie, Paris 1S"5. i •ili n OEnL(((HrAI, AND NATIUAI. Ill.STuftV SI RVE\ op (WSADA. Soil and is often saiidv, but 'foinl croi)* of potatoes anil otiior yanloii vt'iiotables aro gi'own at Foil Smitli. ami also by tho ImliaMs on tlio ea>l >iilo of ajjriciiliurc Hell's li^ck. Oliariiitcr of Slave River. As«ent of Salt Sliver. A rldgo of liigli hills is shown in ino^t inap- I rossiiu tho livof. Slavo River at tlio rapi'is ami running in an oasiorly 'lirodicn. but tlie.-o havo no oxi>tonci' in n-alily. Slave liiver lielow iho rapiiU i- oxtrouK'ly unintorostiiii; yenloiii- cally, as llm oldfr rocUs are nearly evorywlicri' fonooalcl uiidoi' a heavy alluvial (•ovo^in,l,^ The (loiin>it ot]iii-t ji^lacial sti'atitiod sands i> so continuous, and s])roads so far on both -iilos dt' tlu' I'iver as to load to llio supposition that it was laid down in an aiudent ai'in of Slavo Lake, wbitdi o.Ktondc'd lo the bouth aloni;' the lino of juiK tion i>f the d il u iajozoic, anil eoi'i'cspoiiiji' 1 in a ;;i' arm of this lake, wbirh now streirlie-. to tjie north along tbo >atne geological line. Tlu" banks of the river, which at tirsl are alujut one hundred feet high, and in plaeo.s tire broken iiji into terrtiees, become lower a> we descend the river. Seven mile^ below j-'oi't Smith, on the loft hand litink, i> Hell's Hock, a -ipiare. massive looking elill. com- jtosed of light yellowisli breeciated limestone. The iiedding of this roek is indistinct, tuid it yielded no fossils or other evidence of ago. It enjoys the ili>tinetion of being the only expM^uie observed lietween the rapi(U tmd Slave Ltdce. A couple of miles below Hell's Roi k we passed on the right the fishery at Pointe de ( Iravois, and a feiv miles farther on readied ilie mouth of Salt River, which coino in from the leit. Sla\e Rivei' in ibe ilisiance tr;iver.-ed ba^ ;iu average width "f neiuly hidf ti mile, and is eharaeterized by numerous sandy beaidie- aiid btirs ;ind by occasional wooded i>land-. It has ii current in low wtiter of two miles and a half tin hour. At the mouth of .S;dl Iliver is a luuise belonging to one of the nu- merous iieaidieu family, the raembers of which have been so treciuent- ly noticed by arctic exj)loi'ers. I found the present representative of the name living in a lodge with his numerous progeny, and supjiorting himself by catching Inconnu {^Slenodus Macke/iZu). This tish, as pointed out by Uichardson, tinds its southern limit tit the foot of Slave River Rapids, which are loo violent for it to ascend, and below which, consequently they collect at certain season.s in great number^. Beanlieu, in addition to bis fishing, claims the proprietorship of the salt springs on S;dt River, but his laudable attempt to derive a revenue from this source has been foiled by the discovery by Mr. Scott Simp>on, of the Hudson's Bay Company, of other salt deposits farther up tho river. r ascended S:dt River on August '26th as far as the spring.s. Thi-s stream is about thirty or forty yards in width, and winds in an exaspcniting manner through :i Hat wouded plain. Its water is H MH ] sr.AVE RIVF.R, (i:< I) w. The plains are well •j;ra«sod, ami in former days were the tavuritc feeding grounds of the hutit'iili), and even at the present time stray survivors of this fa-t di-ap- peai'iuii" animal are occasionally kilkMl here, although we were not so fortiUKite as I" sue any. The spring- have heci, visited and doserihcd by both Back and Kich;.rdson. Thcv are situaleil near the ba-e of the ■■^iii -M-iu«;. ritlgo mentioiieil aliove. ai'o three or four in number, and are surround- od for .some hundreds ot yard- iiy a salt-sprinkled and tlesohite looking clay flat, through which numerous briny -ti'eainlet- make their way to the river. The springs are enclosed by small evaporating ba-in-, the lai'gest of whi(di is about tit'ieen feet in dianjeter. and is eru-ted with a remarkably pure depo-it of sudic > hloride. The salt obtained here i- ot excellent (juality. and ha- been u-cd in the ^Lickenzie River di-ti'ict for many year-. The ridge Irehind the spriui:- is composed of light yelluwi-h lime- stone, and holds, according to Ri(diardson, several beds of greyish eon\- paot gy))sum. .Some bi'adiiopoil- were collected here, l.iul are too im- perfect for identification. We tlescended Salt River on the "JTth Augu-t. and re-umed our i),..^con(l.s,jt coui'so down .Slave liivei'. This stream pre-cni- few feature- of in- '^^'^' terest. It- avei'age width i- about half a mile, but it fi'ei|uenllv spreads out arouml islands to twice this -i/.e. Sandy beaches, bars ami islands occui' all along its course, and are con-tantly shiftiug their positions, and being built u[» and destroyed by the spring freshets. The birth and growth of one of these islands is thus described by Rich-iJ'Miesi-of ,\n ardson.''= ''A gi'eat v Peace J'iver; and as the ti'ees retain their roots, which are often hiadod with eai'th and stones, they readily -ink. especially when walcr- soaked, and accumulating in the eddies form shoals, which ultimately augment into islands. A thicket of small willows covers the new formed island as soon as it appears above water, and these tibrous roots nerve to liind the whole to^•ethor." * First journey of FraiikkHi, puge 51^. 04 D UKOLO(II<-.\I< ANI> NATI"IIAI, IlfxTOKY SfRVEY OF CANADA. Sliivo U\\t belnw bait Kiver. Sihh ill! iMlaiiil \>y iliviTtiiij; tlic roiii'-e ot' the »ti<';iiii may iinidiKo ciU'iTnts, wliii'li will loult in its nwii (Icstriiriidii, <>\\ as nl'tcn liappcns, it will travel -lowly \' the island-, and in -ome cases '•< institute a ((>n-id(.M'al)k' inopiirtion ol' tho wlndo niaicrial. ISelow .Salt Hiver, .Slavo liivor runs in a sunth-wo-lci'ly course tor tit'tecn miles, and then maUes a ij;roat bend lo tlic we-t called Le(irand I'ctoiir. This hend is nearly fifteen miles around, hut can li(> avoided hy a -hort portage of a few hundred pace- aci'o-s its narrow neck. Twelve miles below Lefrrand Deloui' is I'ointe Brulee, the extremity uf a blunt easterly bend, and sumo thirty miles farther down is Point Ennuyeux, around which wo have to jiaddle nearly ten miles in order to Wooded plain.", advance lialf a mile on our course. On both sides of the river are level plaintt, which extend without any evident elevation as tar as the eye can reach, and sujtport extensive forests of white spruce and banksian pine minified with larcii and rough and -mooth barked iiojilar. The Bpruco frecjuently attains a diameter of eighteen indies, and affords ex- cellent tiniljer. A few miles west of Slave Jiiver, on Little Buffalo Eiver, wide grassy plains, destitute of trees, and resembling inapjiear- ance the great prairies to the south, are stated to exi-t. This style of country finds its northern limit here, as it was not ub-erved anywhere nortli oftireat Slave Lake. After rounding Point Knnuyeux we passed on the right a point cov- ered with massive boulders and limestone fragments, and then entered a small cJicnal behind Big Island, a narrow sj)ruce-covered island about six miles long. From Big Island the river runs in a north-westerly direction for thirty miles to Jtivitire a Jean, one of its outlets into Slave Lake. From this point the western channel, after rounding Point Seul, follows an easterly course to tlie lake, which it enters by a number ot' channels separated by low marshy islands, fMrmcil (Vo?n the sediment brought down by the river. Slave Ikiver brings down an enormous anv un' year, and has pushed its delta tar out into tl ' osi of which it threatens to intlicl a similar fat. aai u.. has overtaken the southern arm. I'rora the mouth of Slave River we turned to the est, and passing through a narrow channel, inside of a couple of islaud^. reached and crossed u -hallow bay, about a mile wide, and then turning to the south between Mission Islaml and the mainland came suddenly in sight of Fort Resolution, where we arrived on August .'Jlst. very part . eaily MfCONNiu.] unEAT SLAVK LAKE AND SCIlIUiUNDINO CnlNTUV. tl.) II (iREAr Slave Lake ani> SinuouNiuNd Chi'ntrv. art (ri'oat Sliivi' Lake, ><) t'lir as Icmdwii, lias a >iii)t'riit'iul aroa, iinluiliiigdrnit .Slave i-landw, <»t'al»nu 10,1(10 si[Uai'(' inilos, and ranks tit'tli armm^ tho i,'rc'al lakes (if tin- foiitiiiont.'- Xo (•(iiii|ilcl»' survey of its slioros, howovt-r, lias yet lu't'ti rnailo, and our knowlniuv nf its ^a'dju'raphy is s(ill ecm- tined trali(iiis (if Iloai'iu'. Mackenzii', Kraiiklin, D-Mk and IVtitdt. Tlieso ^-ivo tiio lake a total lcii,ij;th from oa>t to J^j^'^'^^'f ^-r^"' west ot about 2^8 mill"*. Its width is varialilc and in oiui |ila('o oxfoeds Bi.vty miles. It is situated aloujL,' tlu! wostoi'ii mari^in nf tlio Ai'cha'an axis, and liad niydnally tho form ot' a iireat ('l•os>^ with one arm |icno- trating the crystalline sciiists, while two others stretciied nortli and south aloiijL,' the junction of these with tho newer sodimentaries, and tho fourth extended it.->elf ovei' tho tlatdyiiii;- Devonian to tho west. The southern arm, as ^tate(l hoforo, has been silted u|i l>y .Slave i»iver. Thouastern or .'iroha'an iiortion of tho lake has an irre^-ulai' outline, Eiiii((!rn portion ' "^ of hike. and is dotted with rocky islands. It is reported to he much deeper than tho western part, and its water is exceedingly clear and limpid. The eastern part of tliis arm is divided, according to Bat k, hy Habhit I'oint (tiali-houn-tchella) and Owl Island (Peth-the-nueh) into two deep bays, of which the northern is called McLeod's Bay and tho southern Chi"istic's Bay. The latter is still veiy imperfectly known, and principally from Indian repoi't. It is stated liy Petitot to receive five streams t " les rivivres du Roc/ier. dcs Si'ins, du Loup, de la Terrr- Blanche et lie la Poudrerie," none of whicdi are of any considerable size. North of Christie's Bay is Owl Island, wlii(di is stated by Back to bo fifty four geogi.iplijcal miles in length, and is described as being an accumulation of trap mountains,! " and to exhibit long lines ot' mural preci|iices resting one upon another, and capped by even and round eminences, thinly clad with meagre pines." This island increases gi'adually in height towards the east. North of Owl Island is a narrow sheet of watei* filled with bold and pictui'es(|ue islands, and terminating to tho cast in McLeod's Hay. Into this bay Hoar Frost River precipitates itself over a precipice sixty teet in height, and the Ah-hel-dess.a, tho outlol of Artillery Lake, in a (|uieter manner. Tho country north and east of the eastern jKvrt of this lake is dc- sci'ibed by Back as covered with bare I'oundbacked hills and ridges which * it i." exceeded in size l.iy Superior '31,5liii), Hiirihort rivei- with. Mai'ten Lake. Yellow Knife Iv'voi", at the mouth of which old Fort Providence was situated, and whicii Franklin ascended on his way to the Coppermine, enters this arm from the east. Eastern arm of The caslei'M arm of frroat Slave f.ake rests on the tlatdying Devonian like. , . , . ■ , , ? limestones, and is wider, and presents a greater expanse ot water, un- broken ly islands, than either of the other divisions. Its southern shore ha^ a gentl}' sinuous outline, anh{'l\ing beaches, which arc often thiidcly stre\\'n with boulders. The banks as pointed out by Eichai'dson, iwo. often laiilt up of drift timber. The northern shore is more uneven, and is indented with severaldeoj) bays. The water of (treat Slave F.ake between Slave River and the Mackenzie, is never entirely dear, as a portion of the sediment brought down by the lormor stream is held in suspensicjii and drifts slowly eastward for a hundred miles. The impiirit}' of the water is especially noticeable along the southern shore, and the shal- lowness of this ])art of the lake is undoubtedly caused by the partial .-ettlement of the suspended material. This arm is bordered all around by a Hat wooiled countiy, which has been proved to bo adapted to the cultiv.-ition of barle\', and of pota- toes '\nd other vegetables. The soil is usually a loam, but in the ridges is often sandy, and in low placc•^ passes into a clay. The alluvial lands along Slave J{iver and the grassy })lains on Little JJutfalo Eiver are the best sections of the district, and deserve the first attention. At Fort Resolution a few acres of land are farmed ever} year with good results by the Hudson's Hay Company. Mr. Flett. who has charge of this ])Ost, informed me that barley is usually sown on the 15th of May, and requires about 110 days to reach niatui'ity. Potatoes are ])lanted about the same date, and are dug about the loth of September, wheat, according to the same authority, has been tried three times with only oi.e failure. At Hay Eiver, si.xty miles west of Foi't Eo.solution, some Soil .ind agrioulturo. mcC3nn-:ll.] great SLAVE LAKE AND SURROUNDINU COUNTRV. 67 D pntatoe- arc annually u;ro\vii by liio Indians, and even at Fort Rae, which is situate 1 on a hleak ishind in the nortlioni ai-m of the lalce in Latitude (.2 .'J'.V, some gardening has been attempted by the energetic Oatholio missionarieci who are stationed there. The soil at this place i^ very stony, and much difficulty was experienced in removing the boulders, and in bringing the ground into a projjer state for cultiva- tion. When this was once etfecte 1 -everal kinds of vegetables were gntwn without trouble. I^otatoe,-, planted on the 25th May are dug in the middle of Se|»tenibei', and yield twenty fold, and the list of garden vegetables i-uiscd here inedudes tui'nip<. onions, cal)bages, carrots, radishes, beets and peas. Wheat and barley have not been tried on a lai-ge scale, but a few grains were sown at the <'nd of May one season, and became maturo, the latter on the 2(;th August and the former four days later. A less favourable spot for farming ]nirpo>es, than this ro. ky island, could scarcely bo obtained, and the successful rai-ing of crops hei-e atfords a promise that the more fertile lands to the west and south will one day all be utilized. Ice forms in the bays and along the shores of (Jreat Slave Luke, be- loe on lake, tween the 20th and the last of ( )ctobcr. and the whole lake is usually fast by the middle of Xovembcr. The ice attains a thickness of from six to eight feet. In the sjji-ing the disruption of the ice takes place about the 1st of Jul}', but sometimes occurs as early as the 20th ni' .lune and as late a- the 10th of .Inly. Back slates that in a contracted part of the channel between Owl Island and the north shore called Tal-th(ddeh, the water is said never to i'vi^e/.v, and his experience pi'oved this to bo the case during two winters. A similar occurrence was afterwards noted in the narrow.-, of r,ake His-tcln"), I remained at Fort Piesolution a day, engaged in making jirepara- t'.uus, with the assistance of Mr. Flett, for further explorations, and while there examined the shores of the lake in the vicinity of the Fort and along part of Mission Island, l)Ut failed to lind anv rock m s'ty. The shores, however, are plentifully strewn with angular lime- stone blocks which have evidently not travelled far. These are usually yellowish in colour, but are sometimes dark and bituminous and pass into a calcareous shale. Some of these fragments are fossiliferous, FossiLi. and hold among others the familiar .d^/-.v/>rt /y^/c(//(«/-/s, but I expect- ed to find bedded rocks fiii'ther on and made no collection. Meek* describes a number of fossils collected near here by Mr. Kennicott, but whether these were obtained from loose fragments or from rock in s>tu is not evident. The collection contained Fauosites poli/morpha, Atnj'hi reticularis, a smooth .Spirifer (Martinia), Cyrtina /fainilf'Mensis, * Tninsaotions of the Chicago Acudeiny of Science, 1868, page OS. f; 68 I) GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL lUSTOHY SURVEY OF CANADA. Little Buffalo Bivcr. a ChC'iictes. a small Produchi'i, a Lingula and a Proetus,'A\\ characteristic of the Devonian and liclonifing prolialdy, as stated by >rcek, to a iiorizoii very neai- to that of the llainilton group. Richardson ohtaini'd fossils here wliioh led him to a similar conclusion. Mingled with the limestone are numerous well rounded gneissic and granitoid boulders and sub- angular traps ami conglomerate fragments derived from the Cam- brian rocks of Owl and neighiiouring i>lands. Leave fort. We left tiie fort on September the 2nd, and made a traverse of three miles across a bay to the mouth of Little IJutlalo Eiver, where we were windbound for a few houis. This bay is shallow f u' a long distance frfim the shore, and is tilled in places with gneissic boulders, on one of which we were driven by the wind, and injured our liark eanoe so severely that it was only iiy dint of eneigetic bailing that we man- aged to reach the shore. Little Eutfalo Eiver approaches Shwe River a few miles below Point Ennuyeux, and canoes, by ascending it and making a shct portage over to Slave River, avoid the long detour around by the moutii of the latter stream. It runs through a flat country throughout. Half a mile west of Little Buffalo River is a ledge composed principally of fiat-lying yellowish bre(ciated limestone preciseU* similar to that ob- served in IJeil's rock, a few miles below Fort Smith. This rock holds angular fiagments. ranging in size up to a eouple of inches in diameter, of both ordinary and dolomitic lin^estones firmly cemented in a com- pact calcareous matrix. It yieldetl no determinable fossils. After repairing our canoe, the wind in the meantime- having fallen, we continued our journey, and camped at dusk on a small biulder- lined islanti, where we weie detained the whole oi the next day by a strong north-westerl}- wind. On the -ith we succeeded in getting away again, and after crossing a bay about four miles ,vide we coasted along the shore, inside the Burnt Islands, to lie dn Mori, where a party of Dog- ribs are said to have been chased and starved tc death by their south- ern neighboui's. From lie du Mort we crossed two shallow bays, and Shoreeof luke. camped in a good harbour at Sulphur I'oint. The shores of the lake all along are flat and unintei'esting, and only one or two small exposures were observed at the various points at which we touched, although loose fragments of limestone and gneissic erratics are seldom absent. Low terraces lunning parallel with the beach, and other indications of a foimer higher lake elevation were noticed in places, and appear to encircle the lake, as terraces wore afterward found on the northern shoi'e, and Back mentions their occurrence at the east end, near Fort Reliance. Sulplmr Point dei'ives its name from the presence there v\ several \ MtCDNNELL ■] HAY RIVER. 69 D I wpring.s which emit a slroiig odour of sulpiiuretled liydroujon. The flow sulphur from these is small, and the efHuont water must carry \i[t large quan-'^''"'"''' tities of soluble material, as heavy deposits of calcareus tufa occur all around. The water is clear and almost tasteless, and has a tem- perature of 57° y. We left Sulphur Point on the 8th, having been delayei thi'ee dial's by u north-west gale, which are very prevalent on the lake at this .season, and reached Hay River the same day. Six miles east of Sul- phur Point is Buffalo River, a stream of about tifty yards in width, which originates in a large lake situated, according to report, about fifty miles east of Fort Smith. Heavy rapids occur on it in one place, but it is navigable witii York boats to its soui'ce. Four miles east of Buffalo River is a blunt headland called Point Presse, and between it and Hay River is a wide, shallow bay with sandy shores, into which a couple of small streams tlow. Hay River. Hay River has never been explored. It is reported to rise near the Hay River. head waters of the Nelson, or Kast Branch of the Liard, and to flow in a northeasterly direction for three hundred miles befoi'e emptying into Gi'eat Slave Lake. Grassy and partly wooded plains extend northwards from Peace IMver and skirt its southern shores, but do not cross it, and this river may be regarded as ])ractically the northern limit of the prairie country, although small isolated plains occur much farther north in the vicinity ot Slave River. Hay River, like Slave River, enters the lake liy several channels, iiuyiiiver and at tlie extremity of a ])oi:it formed by the deposition of its own ''"""' sediment, near its mouth, is an abandoned Hudson's Bay trading post, now occupied by a band ot Indians, who assemble there on account of the excellent tishing. For some distance above the post, and while passing through the delta, the river is wide and encloses a line of al- luvial islands, but on getting above these it contracts to about one hundred yards in width. Its baidcs are low and grassy, and the coun- try on both sides is thickly forested. Proceeding U|) the river the general elevation of the country inci'eases, and the valley becomes higher and wider, and bordering flats make their ap])earance. The current at the mouth is gentle, but increases in rapidity as we ascend and breaks into riffles on the bars. As wo ascend, also, the I'ecent R^„g,jg,^,j,„g sands and (days of the delta and lower part of the river are replaced "''y'^'*^^''- l)y bluish-green soft shales, which rise gradually in the l)anks until they tbrm bold bluffs along both sides of the valley. These shales are interstratified with ri])plo-markod and worm-burrowed calcareous sand- t 70 D GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY OF CANADA. FcMilg. Stones and yollowish limestone, and resemble exactly the bluish shales at the rapids on the Liard, ,uid hold similai' Devonian f.ssils. Twenty miles above the mouth, the river, which below has been only moderately tortuous, winds around a tedious double bend, at the elbows of which are high sections of the bluish shales. Foui- miles farther up some heavy beds of yellowi>h weathering limestone make their appearance. The valley hero is about a quarter of a mile wide, and its scarped sides exhibit the shales in magnificent and continuous sections. Still going on we follow the river around an easterly bend at the upper end of which IS a I'apid, and then pass for some miles along the base of shale clitts which are highly fossil ifeious. The shales are very soft, almost parsing into clays, and the fossils weather out in a beautiful state of preservation. The following species were obtained here :— Astraospomjia Bamiltoncnsis, Meel< and AVoi-then. Aiiloj,ora ser/'eiis. tioldfuss. Campop/u,lhnn eWptirmn {Chomphijllum , Wpllniw Hal tield.) Ci/athophyllion C((spito>i(iii, (ioldfus.s. //( !'0/>hijlh(m p.irruluin, Wiiitcaves, PhtU'jsastraa Ifennahi, Lonsdale. I'erriUi, Meek. Pdchi/pora .ercarnis, De I51ainville. Ah-coUtcs cdllonnn. Meek. Arar/otO'Vinus Caiiaden,' ■/(/•re its walls have been woi'n into a slojung attitude, and K'adsfor a cou])le ot' miles across a level, marshy plain, fore>teil with banksian pine and white spi'uce, to the Alexandra Falls, so named by Bishop Bom])a8, in honour of the ; Princess of Wales. The gorge here suddenly ceases, and the river pre- cipitates itself ovci- the hai'd limestone band through which the latter is cut, with a sheer descent of about eighty-flvc feet, as measured by a single reading of the aneroid barometer. These falls present a clear unbroken sheet ot' falling: water, and ai'e exceedingly picturesque in H:i.v River Kornc. AU'xandrii 1-aUs. GEOLOOtCAL AND NATURAL HIsToRY SURVEY OV CANADA. Origin of falls Compnriioii with Niagara Fall.-. Limestone at gorge. I'u3.silj. Limestone esoarpmeDt. iippearaiK'O. From tlieir hiise the liver flows aloiiii: raj)i(lly for about a mile, and then makes a second leap of about fifty feet, below which are three miles ot rapids. At the lower falls the clitf is broken down near the centre, and the descent of the water is interrupted by jirojecting ledges. Above the falN the I'iver loses its valley almost altogether, and has failed to produce moi'e than a feeble impression on the hard limestone beds which floor the surrounding country. The falls here owe their origin to precisely the same cause as that which jiroduces the famous falls at Niagara, viz., the sujjcrposi- tion of hard limestone on soft shales, and the conseijuent undermining and destruction of the former effected by the rapid ero.sion and re- moval of the supporting beds. I was surprised to tind that the rate of retrocession, dating both falls from the same period, has been almost identical. The Niagara Falls are gererally regarded as having re- ceded six miles since they wei'o brought into existence by the eleva- tion of the country at the end of the glacial period, and on Hay River the distance between the point at which the limestone band makes its first apijearance and the lower falls, is almost exactly five miles, and between the same point and the upper falls, six miles. The eciuality of the work done by the two streams is, however, a mere coincidence, as the factors in tlie two cases are entirely different. The volume of water which falls over the precipice at Niagara is many times greater than that carried by Hay J?iver, while its erosive power is I'elatively less on account of its somewhat greater juirity. The limestone exposed along the Hay River gorge has a minimum thickness of two liumli'ed feet, inclusive of a band of shales, which separates it into an upper and a lower portion. It appears to have a light dij) up stream. It occurs characteristically in thick massive beds which weather to a light yellowish colour. The heavy beds alternate with laminated bands, which occasionally pass into cal- careous shales, ami with a uniformly grained well stratified cream- coloured limestone, which resembles specimens I have seen from the limestones of Lake Winni])eg. Fossils are less numerous in the limestones than in the underlying shales, and the same forms appear to characterize both series. At the falls I obtained some specimens o\' Atri/pa I'ltii'ulan's and of two specimens of a cm-al, which is probably CampophijUum rllipticiim, besides some others which ai'c too imperfect for identification. The eastern outcrop of the band of limestone wliich crosses Hay River at the falls, forms an escar])ment which follows in an inter- rupted manner the valley of the Mackenzie in a north-westerly direc- tion as far as the Liard, and is the cause of the falls and heavy rapids + WCtONNELL.] SLAVE LAKE CONTINUED. 73 D ■which occur on all the ht reams which enter the Mackenzie from the southwest l^etween these two points. OntheLiaid the passage from the harder to the softer formations is marked only by a few light I'irtlcs and an accelerated current, but there the proportion of shales to limestone is ' ^'"'"' to the lake is low all along this part, and inter.-ected with nuirshes, moss-covered muskegs and small lakes, but to tho south it rises into a louo- even ridge called Eagle Mountain. A rock specimen from tho mountain which I afterwards obtained, showed it to be composed of a fine-grained yellowish limestone, almost exactl}- similar to the lime- stone at Hay River fixlls. At the Desmarais islands the lake contracts, and the influence of the .Mackenzie current l)econies apparent. We lett the southern shore here and crossed over to the up])or end of Big Big Island. Island, an island of gome titteen miles in length, which is situated at the embouchure of the lake and divides tie water issuing from it into two channels. The southern channel is four to tive miles in width, but is tilled with islands. It cari'ie> the main body of the water, and is the one u.sed by the steamer, but is everywhere very shallow, ami in low water someaitticulty is experienced in navigating it. 74 P OEOLOrilCAI, ANH NATURAL UISTORY .SURVEY OF CANADA. I i Slave Lake fisheries. Hi^f Lslaiiil is fringed all around its eastern end with a wide inai'gin ot' dritt timliof, closely packed together and covered, wherever the interstices have become tilled up liy the gradual deposition of sand and the decay of the wood, with a lieavy ^i-nwth of willows. Tiie main sliuros ot' the lake, as pointed out hy Jlichardson, ->how in many cascf* ;he sune structure. The northern channel is about a mile wide at its nari'owest }ilace, and, except in high water, is not navigable for boats drawing nioie than three feet of water. On the main land, north ot' this channel, is situated an abandoned trading post, and near it is the jiroductive liig Island tisherv. The fisheries of Great Slave L dein; ike are of great importance ma and briel'. une reference m any account ot' the lake, h'lwever Fish oi' vai'ifius kinds can he taken in any part of the lake throughout the year with nets and liooks. but they are especially abundant in .some jihices just before the advent of cold weather. At this season, whi'h Usually lasts f'roin the 20lh of ."September to the 10th of October, they leave the ileeper parts oi' the lake, and migi'are in va-t numbers to certain favored waters, where almost any quantity desired can be obtained. The Big Island fishery -upjdied Fort .Simpson and Fort Providence last year with about 40.nOO fish, besie , On tlic! 10th we left tlie Bi-' Island fishery and started out to visit Leave i;:, the tar sprin.i^'s on the north side of the hike. We first made a long and soniewliat risky ii-averse iU'ross a dee]) bay, and then iiassetern sitk- is a small harbour, well ])roteeted from N'^rth ^lure of winds I'iowing from any quarter. Beyond Pointe aux Kselaves the shoix' is b()lder and tlie water become> mueh deepoi'. A bay of some four miles in width separates it from i'ointo Brulee. one of tlie most exposed and stormiest places on the lake. This point is inueh dreaded by the Indians, who state that they seldom round it without eneoun- tering a gale of -nme kind. When we ])assed il the wind was light, but heavy waves, rai-ed by u -lorm wlii( h swept the lake the preceding day, were rolling up from the sea and breaking in a threatening manner along the sliore. Outsicie the fringe of breakers the waves were broad and coulil be ridden with little danger, but it was only with the greatest difficulty and at'ter we had been once nearly swamped, tliat I was able to convince my Indians of this, as they seemed to consider that the place of greatest safety was close to the shore. After weathering the jioint we lurncil to the north-west and entered a deep bay, ricar the bottom t)f which our guide pointed out to us a lobstick which marked the position of the sprinus of which we were in seai cb. The shore here is rocky, but lor -oine distance cast ot' Pointe Ibulet' is bordered with a gravel terrace. The sju-ings are situated a couple ot' jiundred yards from the shore, T.ir?i.rir.fs. at the base of a low limestone clitf. which runs inland from the lake, and are three in iiumlier, each of them being surrounded with a small basin, three to four feet in diameter, rilled with iusi)issated bitumen, while the soil and inoss for some distance away is imiiregnaled with the same material. A small .[uantity of pitch is annually taken from these springs and used for boat iiuilding purposes, while a much larger supply could be obtained if needed. A sulphur spring resomblingS.ili.hum'rini.-. those at Sulphur Point on the south shore of the lake, but much more copious, issues tV"m the foot of the clitf in close [iroximity to the bituminous springs, ami feeds a considerable stream. The rock throuirh which the itetroleum ascends here is a heavily R'»'kF lu tar bedded grevish, rather coarsely crystalline cavernous dolomite, and is' entirely unlike the bituminous beds south of the lake and down the Mackenzie, which in most cases consist of calcareous shales. The dolomite is everywhere permeated with bituminous matter, which ' tliroun'ii eraeUs, often for ms snial Dols on tlio suit'ace of the I'otk. The ago of the bituminous bods here (-(Mild not bo cleai-ly ascertained, as thoy are entiroly unfossilitorou*, but it is altngethei' lilcoly that thoy are older than the Devonian shaios and liinostone which outcrop along the southern shore, ami are more neai-ly related to the dolomites which underlie the ibssiliforous Devonian beds at the Nahanni Butte and at otlior places. The i)i'Osenco of bitumen in such abundance hero also sugge>ls an anticlinal which wouM bring up lower bods. TarapriDgj. .Sulphur and tar springs aro reported to occur at a point about half way between this and Fort Eae, but as 1 did not hear of them until I had left the lake, 1 was unable to visit them. A t; ■spring is also known to exist under the surface of the water in the deej) bay imme- diately east of the Big Island fishery, as many of the boulders and rocks along the shore in this neighbourhood ai'o coated with bitumen which has been washed ashore, and hummocks of ice >tainod with the same material are often observed. On the south shore bituminous shales and limestones outcrop at several ))oints, and it would thus aj)- pear that the oibboaring bods underlie the whole western part of the lake. The limestones along the shore near the tar springs show glacial gro(Jvings and oblong rounded luimmoedv>, running in a general east and west direction, or nearly parallel to the shore line at this j)Oint. At Koit Rae, which T afterwards visited in the winter time, the few hummocks which appeared above the snow seemed to run about 8. 30^ W., or diagonally across the arm of the lake on which that fort is situated. We left the tar springs on our return journey at noon on the 20th, and reached Pointe aux Ivsclaves the same night ; here we were delayed for a day by a gale of wind, but on the 22nd got away, and by vigorous paddling against a head wind, succeeded in reaching Big Island fishery the same night. , The Mackenzie Ei\er. Great Slave Lakf. to Fout Providence. Mackenz'e lliver. Length of river. The Mackenzie River on which we now enter is the secoml river in length and size of basin, but the third in actual discharge, on the Nortli American continent, and ranks among the first dozen rivers of the world. The length of its watercourse from its source in the '' Com- mittee's Punch Bowl," near Mount Brown, by Athabasca and Slave III (lUEAT SLAVE T.AKE TO FoRT I'ROVIhENCB. M l> the Rivor, to tho sea i« 2,5i;0 milcH, liut tlio Iciigtii of the >cfti()n to wliicii tho iiiinu' i> retitrittftl is only iilxMit l,(iO(l inik's. It (Iniiiis an area of ti77,4<)0 >(|iiai'o inilesi, and lian an aiipioxiniate discliargi' al a nioilium btago of tlio watoi', acfording to .some rough nieuMirementrt made by the writer of .jOO, 000 >ii|uare feet per second. Its liasin is traversed for nearly l.uOO nnle> liy the Ifooky Mountains, and tlio Mackoii/ie is prohaldy uniciue among the rivers of the worM in the faVl of having a large jn'oportion of its basin situated on the far- Iher side of a great mountain chain. Two of its jirinciiial ''''j''* JI.^j;;;;',;;'||,,. taries, the Liard and Peace Tuvcrs. pieice the Rocky Mounlaius and drain large areas beyond, while the thiid, the Athabasca, originates in tho heart of the same range, and is eontined entirely to the east- ern slope. The country from which the Mackenzie draws its sup- plies is of the most varied descrii>tion, and includes ])ai't of the liroken plateau region west of the Rocky Mountains, the liocky Mountains themcelvcs through fifteen degrees of latitude, thenorthern part of the prairie district and the wooded and moss-covered country, which succeeds it towards the Arctic ocean, while tribute is also drawn from a wide belt of rough Laurentian country on the east, antl from a portion of the "Barren Lands." From (ireat Slave Lake to t!io sea character ..f tho Mackenzie is an imposing stream, averaging about a mile in width, '"^''"^ ""'"'• with occasional expansions foi' h)ng distances to twice this size. It is characterized by the comparative puiity of its water, by its long straight reaches and by the absence of sudden bends. Its valley is usually shallow, and follows closely all the sinuosities of the stream, without the intervention of large flats. Clusters of islands ob>truct its channel in a number of places, and are met with at intervals all tho way down, while ranges of lofty mountains run parallel with it for part of its course, and form a fitting background to this king of north orn waters. The Mackenzie on issuing from Great Slave Lake has a width of from Width oi river, seven to eight miles, but is shallow and tilled with islands. We passed down through the channel north of Big Island, and found tho water so shallow that our canoe frequently grazed the bottom several hun- dred feet from the shore. In veiy low water loaded York boats are unable to float down this channel from the fi>hery, and are obliged to go around the east end of Big Island and comedown tho southern ehannel, where the water is somewhat deeper. The shore is low and Low shores. fringed in many ])laces with marshes, which are evidently submerged when the river is in flood. The low elevation of the country all around the east end of the lake makes it difficult to understand the terraces which border it at intervals, as a change in the elevation of tho water Current <•( river. Rock? nloiis river. Arrive at F( Providence. Soil and agriculture. rsi) OEOI,0(JIC.\L AND NATI It \[. III.-.T"HV SUUVEV OK CANADA. iif tlio liiki' siiill'icnt ti j)fii(luci> tlieso wi thoiit somo corivspDinim^ C'liiiiiyi' ill tho i'lovati():i ni' tlio !iili!ici.Mit CDiiutiy wonlil tloDii all tin. lowlamis to tiio Oiist, and croato a rliuiiiR'l ot' eiiiiiiiinn- wi'ltii tui'l ( at' ryiii;;' pinvcr. A dotailoil stiiily of tlio laki , and tlio hiko slmr. Iiiwovor, lie iiocc-Miry to solve tlu> and the many niliof ])f.iM''m- con- iio<'tod with its orii,riii ;uid luHtory. \v:l Fiftooii mik's IVotii llic Itilcc tho island^ coa^o, :md tlio livof lias eotitraoted to about tunr mile>, uhioh diininislios fapidly to loss tlian two iiiilos as wo pi'orood, wliilo at tlio >aino tiiiio tlio (.-iiffont ^'{•adiially iiu-i'caso.s in stron^lli, and tliii'ty milos from tlio laUo i- run- joino di-taiito fai'thoi' on !i laim' islandMnckH tlio wav, and tho m.iin h'ldv "t watoi' tiu'iiitiii' ninj^ at tho fato of ovor (bin' milo> an Imni'. to Ih till, fall.' d," 1. alls over wliat is cnnimnnly callod 'tlio ra]nd, init is scarool}- ono in tlio Ofdinary .sonso of tho woi'd, as altli'>iii,'h tho onr- rcnl is swift it is iniilo biikkUIi, ;tiid i- a»oondel liy tho stoainor " Wri,i;'loy ■' without dilliiully. On the soathorn oliannol stioni;' fapids tiro stated lo occur. Hotwooii (Iroiit .'^lave Lako and 'tho rapid," the counlry hordoiiiin' tho livor is gonofally Hat, with numorou-. mar.sho* and mtiskons separ- ated liy ioaolios of foivst. Tho valley nf the river is shallow, with low hank's seldom e.xcoodin^;' thirty fool in hoiglif. Sections of a yellowish honldor niall exposures of the .■^ame hliiisli ^hale from which Devonian fossils wore obtained on Ilay iiivor a|ipear at the >iirfa('e nf the water. At '•thi^ rapid" is situated Fort Pi-o\ Idcncc, whore it had hooii ar- rangeil thai 1 should pass the winter. 1 arrived there on the 24lh of Soi)tcmhor. and was kindly received by .Mr. Eeid. the otHcor in chari;-o. and iiy Mr. Scott, also of llu' 11. B. C. who wa- staying with him, and hospitably tiealed Ijy them and by the member-- of their lioiiseholds while I remained. It will bo unnecessary bore t" mo:o tlian refer to tho events of the winter which jiassod pleasantly and (quickly if .some- what monotonously. While staying at the Fort tho traverses of the procediiii;' ^umInel• were platted and a meteorological record ke})t, wliich will bo found in the ap|(ondix. Some rough exploration was also undei'taken. Fort rrovidence is surrounded by flat arable laniis. of good (piality, and capable of producing excellent crops. Agriculture is en- gaged in here both by the II. B. Company and the R. C, Mission, and large quantities of farm ])roduce are annually raised. Wheat has been sown at the II. B. Comi)any's farm for nine years, and, according to Mr. Reid, has never been a comjilete failure, although on some occa- MiCONNtLL.] hnllT l'l-TCao. ?!• 1) Hjinrt il lia> been >li,i;,'lilly IoikIk'.I liy -uminci' trust-.. It ii iisiuilly MOWii alioiit tlu! -0th May, iiiiil n'(|iiirc> almiit tluou tiiontli-. tn ri|M'i,. Ah miiiii u> twoiity-iiiiii' liu-licl.s lui- liecii ohtaiiu'il tmiii <>iii' luisliol wcwii, Uuiii'V in a -^iiio (rii|i. It i- m>\vii at ilic same time a-, llio whoat, uiiil IS I'ipi' altnn>i a wock fai'lior. I'ntatoiT^ aie plantO'l lu'twcen tlic ItJtIi ami 2.')tli .May. ami are lakeii up abniii tho "JOtli oi'.Septt'inlii'i-. Tiii- iiij)-. I'iiblpai^o, lioot-^ ami Miimoioii* ntiior uaiilcii vi'ii'ol allies ai<' j^i'dwh witli M'ai'coly i^i'caloi' ditliriilty than in latitii'le- ten donice- taithoi' Hciiili. Tin' -oil i> a stitf t'iuy. with in >uine jilaees siii't'are lied- ot >aml. and is soldom thawed out tn a greater A. • 1 I I ■ I' Steep e.'ciirpuieiit time, anil (|iiiekly pMssiiiif tliroui,f]i the belt nT spnu'c whiu'i inai'i^'iiis tlie river, came oul on a wide muslieg. uii the tai'ther .side ol' whicdi the spi'iiee woods iveomnienceU and continued to the base of a steep escai-])- nient whicii crossed oiu' way at a distance ot'ahoiit thirteen miles from the river. This escarpment runs i)arallei wilii tlie river, and is doulit- less the northern edge of the same lime-tone liand, or of tlie lower portion of it, over which Hay and Beaver rivers plunge at their falls. After making the asrent the l^aromoter showed an elevation of iJOO feet above the river. From the top of the escarpment the trail leads for onie miles through a Jianksian pine fore>t, lieyond which is a wide spruce and tamarac flat which extends to Lake Ka-kl-s'i; on thefartiier side of which we made our second camp, after travelling about thirty Liii;.' Ki-ki-?;i. miles. Lake Ka-kl-su is about four miles wide a; the west end, where we cro^seil it, and is at least ten miles in length. Beaver River passes through its eastern end, according to a sketch which Chief Xelson, of tlie Trout Lake Indians, drew out for me. On the oth we climbed about a mile from camp a second steppe or -udden rise in the general elevation of the eouiitrj'. This escarpment runs northwards, with a height of 300 feet, parallel to the southern shoi'e ot' the lake. An exposure of yellowish-weathering compact limestone, lying in a horizontal p)>ition, was observed in the coulee up which the trail led, but proved to be unfossiliferous. The elevated fountry behind this second escarpment is covered tor some miles by a Banksian pine (Pimis Bdnhskuut) forest. This tree grows to a larger size here, and its branches are more iri'egular and ex- tend out straighter from the ti'unk than i- usiuil in more southern latitudes. It frequently attains a diameter of over two feet, but its wood is very soft and is regarded as much inferior to that of the white spruce (Picca alba), which atfords by far the greatest j)art of the timber used in the district. Leaving the pine woods the trail leads through a succession of spruce swamps, open muskegs and wide brulee reaches, which continue for the next twenty miles. A small tributary of Beaver Hiver winds through this part of the country. At'ter crossing it we passed over a [line and :t>pen ridge, and then descended '"^to a swampy partly wooded plain, which wi entered for four or tive miles, i.nd then camped. We passed on our left, during the day. the northern end ol' Lake Ta-thll-nfi, an expanded ])ortion ol' Beavei' IJiver, and in the same direction, a range of hills, apparently running nearly north and south, was observed whenever an unobstructed view could be obtained. Kariy on the 'Ith we passeil through a wide belt of sjiruco Beivcr River '^^'t*'"''' '""^ reached Beaver River. This >tream, where we crossed it, is about a hundred yards wide, .and has a somewhat sluggish current. It ExrM!=urc of lime.«tone. Pine forest. Srr\ico SWilUlpS I M. CONNEIL. FOltT T'lVn-niENTE T«i FOKT RAE. SI U is rcpDi'ied lo i)rii;'iii;itL' at tlie foot i>l' a liiii;li I'idgc. which \va-* now ])hiinly visible to the soiitii. From Beavei- liiver we made our wa}' fur eiiiihteeii miles aeioss a ])artly wooileti, ])artiy ojieii country, inter- tiected willi muskegs, and camjjcd in the dense spruce woods which skirl tlie base nf the heiglils referred lo ahove. The Ttii wa> or(Mi|pied in ci'nssiiin- this ridge, which marks tiie fnmt of a third steppe, i'nd (- nis> rul I'ises to an elevation of I.I'jO feet above Beaver liiver. T 10 a.-cent is al tii'st "-railuai, but near the ton there is an ibrupt rise of some hundreds of feet. The summit is covered with irreguhirly dis])( sed steep ^ided liilis and iov interhicing I'idgcs, whicii are ])i'obalily ot' glacial origin, and suggest a com])aris( )n with the surface conliijruration I he Missouri (iitcau of tlie southern pi; iins. observe d 1 lei'e, an( I if my exi>tc ti lev wei'e conce aled o exposures wei'o IV the snow. From the --ummit we made a ''"-cent of about 2(1(1 feet to camp, and on the following dav, aftei- passing some >mall lakes, made a traverse thirti y miles aci'oss a desolate look'ing jdain, scantily coveret ot over with -])ruce and tamai'ac. to Lake Bis-tclni, on the farthci' side of wiiich we found llie Indian camp of which we were in search. Lake IJis-tcdio (Ri;.- Knife) is reported to be about thirt} miles in i.ak.' lii-tclKV length and from >i.K to eight in width, It em])tie.s into Black Eiver. a tributary ot' the I-iard. At its weslei'n vi\i\ it contracts in one place to a couple of miles and then < jiens out intn a deep bay, which gives it the faiu'iel resemblance to a knife, from which it derives its name. It has luw banks, and is surrounded by a flat country wood"d with sjii'uce, iiircdi, tam.'i ic. \c,, oj fair hiizc. flight or ten milc.> to the south is a liigli riilgi . across wlii(di the Indians make a portage to Hay liivei-. The latitude of Lake lii-tidio, tV^im a nici'idian altitude of the -un taken under somewhat unlavorablc circumstanci^'-. wa< lijund to i'c :)'y 4.'}' 30". We commenced our return JMUi>Mcy on the Idth and n^aclied the I'ort without misjiap on the Llth. FiiRr I'ltovinExiK ro Fnirr IJae. It On the lilst of .lanuary .-i triji to Furt Kae wa-- undertaken in com- Tiir td K'lt p.'i . with Mr. ( 'am-eli and a inimber of otlicer.- of the Hudson'-- Bay''"' Company. \Vc reached our destin.ation on the 2r)th. and aftei' a pleasant -tay ol' a few days with Mi'. Wilson, the genial olHcer in (duirge, I started lia(d< on the 21ith. Fort llac has been rofciwed t'l in connection with a ]irevious description, and some agricultural statistics given. It i> -situated on an island in the northern aim .■! (Jreat Slave t; I 1 If 82 D aEOLOQICAL AND NATITRAL IIISTOllY SURVEY OP CANADA. I'ort Uiio. Rnck- iiroiiiul Fort Kac. fllaciufoil liuiiiiiKicks. Ixsl Lake, aiid in winter presents a somewhat iniiospitable appeai'ance to the approacliin^' traveller, i)iit in summer its surroundings liecomo more agreeable. It is resorted to for trading purposes by several luindred Dog-rib Indians, whose bunting gi-ounds extend from the north short' of the lalce far into the '' Barren (Jrounds." Fort l?ae is sui'- nmndod by a deer country, and is lookeil on rather as a jirovision post than as a fur post, although it also ranks high in the latter respect. In the winter tliousands of the "Barren Lands" Ci'ribou, whifdi have been di-iven south by the severity of the elimalc. are slaughtej-ed in its vicinity, and their Mesh eonverteii into dry meat for use in the district. The unfavorable season and depth of the sni>w prevented me from obtaining much itd'ormalion in regartl to the gool)gy of tiie interest- ing country around Fort JJae, hut some notes wore made. The line of junction between the Ai'cluvan schists and the Paheozoic limestones parses about two miles east of the tort. Kxposures of Imth systems were observed within a di-laiue of half a mile, but the actual contact was not seen. The hummocks of Archiean rock which projected above the snow consisted, so far as my limited examination went, exclusively ol' a reddish coloured, medium grained bioiitegranite. The hummocks are glaciated, and have theii' longer axt's orientated in a general S. .S. W. and N. N. K. direction, which would go to show that the abrading glacier was deflerted to some extent down the arm of the lake, as the groovings at the tar springs, noted on n previous page, have an a|)proximate east and west dir'Ttion. The limestone beds ex))Oseil in the vicinity of the tort have a horizontal attitude, and are usually of a somewhat massive character, and form clitVs running along the shores, but are also sometimes flaggy. Tiiey are yellowish in colour, are very compact, and are generally imiistingiiisbable in appearance from the limestones which overlie the los^iliferou- hevonian slialcs south of the Mackenzie. They are foss'''lerous, but no specimens perfect enough lor identification were obtained. On tiie wav back from Fort Kac an estimated traverse was made, but luiwccii Kort the lountry is generally monotonous and uidnteresting and will not 1 l''(irf lla*> require much description, lit is everywhere flat, the barometer never indicating a gvfMfv height th«n 2»iO 1*0^ above the lake, and is covered with lakes and marshes. sepa':it**l by mdts of npruee and pine, and by partly wooded |ilains and brulees. No i'X|^>suref< of rock of any kind were seen on the way across. AftPi- leavinjf thf lake on the 29th we passed through a thick spruie forest for a C(>«ple of miles, the surface rising graviuall}' as we proceeded to an elevai lon of 150 feci iibove the lake, and then through a region nion o'uiMily clad with alternating i f i I g i MCCONVELL.] FORT I'ROVIDENCE TO FORT SIMPSON. S3 I) groves of >|)nico, poplar, bircli ami alilei\ On tlii' yoili llic most noticc- alile feature of iIk- day'.s joiiriu'y was the number of 8mall lakes which Wfci'ossed, and wliich dotted the faeo of the country on lioth sides of the trail. Some excellent spruce was seen in the middle of the d;iy, but this thinned out and was replaced by muskeg-s before leachinii; camp. On the ."{Ist the trail led llirounh a well wooded country most of the way. In the forenoon (jf this day we made a traverse of six miles across Birch Lake, the largest lake seen on the route. On the 1st of Februaiy we made our way through the fii'and I'.nilee, the scene of a former destructive lire, and encamped on the far side of Laki'Ta-di-tha, and on the 2nd crossed three wide prairies, witii the intervening timber belts, antl arrived at Kort Providence. Travelling with dogs in northern latitudes is pleasant enouuli when one is comfortably ensconced in a cariole and looked alter b\' a driver, witli iIhrs. but presents itself under quite a different aspect when one is obliged to follow up on foot. The constant use of the snovvshoe is almost certain to result, in the case of the novice, in sore feet, and a careless tying of the strings may bring on the dre;ided ■' my those who are desirous of being styleil " men of the north.'' Fort Providknce to Fout Simi'son. Aftei' returinng from l-'ort Rae I remained at Fort Providence until Pmceed to the 1st of May. and then proceeded down the rivei' to Port Simpson ^''"■' '''""'""'"• with dogs. The weather, which liad remained cold and wintry up to this time, suddenly turned warm, ami the w;dking became exceedingly disagreeable and fatiguing. We travelled at night, but even then were obliged to wade through slush most of tlie way, as a crust sulHciently hard to bear us only formed for a short time in the early morning. We were six days making the trip. Xo survey was made alonu- this jiart of the route, as the course of the river hiid been pieviousjy laid down by Franklin and others, ami the necessity for travelling at i\ight made it impossible for me to attempt any improvement on their woi'k. The Mackenzie, from a jioint four miles ainjve Fort Trovidence down to the Little Lake, a distan^-c of twenty miles, is sjjlit up into a number t)(.i.iw Fort <)l (diannels which have a spread oi over four miles. 1 ho numerous 1 i I St D GEOLOdlCAL ANIl NATUUAL HlSToKV SURVEY nF CANADA. Horn MouDtaiiij. i.slitnds in tliis roacli nro low. and as a I'lili' a^(Mlcn^cly covered witli s])ni''0. At the iijjiiei' end of some of the islands gi'eal hills of ehiy and hoiiklcrs wore noticed, which h;i.d evidently been piled up by the action of the river ice. The shores of the river ai'e low, and .show exposures of bouldcr-clay. undeidaid in sonn' places by bluish Devonian shales. At the Little Like, which is siin])ly an ox|»ansi()n of I he river, the Mac !■;- enzie i.- joined from the nnrth by Willow Kiver. This stream is about fifty yard.s in width, and ori,<.;inates in the rear of the Horn Mountains around the castei n end of whi(di it flows. It is naviuable by canoes tiir a loriii' distance, but heavy rapids are stated to occur in it? upper jiart. The mouth of Willow River has been used fi)r the last two .seasons a.s a winter hai'I)oui' for the .steamer Wriijley, on account of the fact tluit the ice on streams coming- from the noi'th lireaks u|) in the spriui;- with less violence than on those comin;;- fi'om tlie south. The Horn Mountains, whieh lie^in abi'ujtth" about thii'ty miles north of the Little Lake, and are seen from various points alonu' the river nearly all tiie way to Fort Simpson, have the character of a simi)le es- earpmenl. They present a steep face to the south, but to the noi-th slope a\\a\' ver\' gradually / wide marshy ])lain is !'e]iorteil to exist at their base, between whi(di and the river the countiy is well forested. To the south similar but lowei- esciU'pracnts, among which is 'Jfout Mountain, extend paralhd to thy nenoral course of the river. „. , I From Little Lake the Mackenzie continues wide and slu<;-L!;ish to L-tiie LaUc. what is kiiown as the "■ Head of the Line." the point at wliich oars ari' substituted for the ti'acking line in ascendiuif the river, be^'ond whieh it- eurrcnt becomes more va])id. Forty miles below the lake we i'ea( bed Neljow Knife River, and a few miles fiirther on, after rounding a brmivl liend.came to Trout Rivei-. lioth of these sti'eams come from the ."•outh, and are reported to head in huge lakes. From Trout River we followed ai'ound a northerly bend, and then crossed a long straight reach lo the head of the jiorfnge. From this p. uuf a short cut leads across to the Liard, and down it to Fort Simpst-n, but as the thaw had made thi^ impas.-able, we were (d)ligcd to take the longer route around by the river, and pick our way througii the numeious •• Ixmr- (lillor.a'' which i-oughened the >urfiice ol the riv-r almost all '' .; way to 'he Fort. (ieol(i?y. Between the Little J-ake anil Fort Simpson, -ectious of yidlowish- weathering boulder-clay are of consl.inl (M-currenee and underlying it are expo-ures in a few j)laces of the s;ime Iduish Uevonian shales, which have been traced all ihe way from Hay Hivir. In iletscending the river the -hales lose theu- characti"ii>tic greeiush-blue colour to some extent, and lecome darker and harder, and weathei- into steeper I MiCONNELL.] FOUT SIMPSON. 8") D -lopes, l)ut that the two varieties are of tho same ai;-e is sIkhvh liy their occiirreiico together on the Liani. Br. Eicharilson, who (lesceiuied the river in tlic snninier liiiu', and had a bcttfro|)|)()rtunily ot't'X-aniininn- (he hanin in be Ihe same witii that on the Athaliasea River and Slave Lake, which has been said al)ove to be i)robably Mureelhis shale. Between tiie old IWrt arid Hare S!:in River the basis of the lianl% is formed of a gi-eyish-gi'een shale clav, which under the influence of the weallier breaks into .-cales like wacke, and at last foi'ms a tenacious clay. The whole baidf the Liard, and is the head(|uartei's of the fur trade on the Mackenzie, The various buildings are arrangeil around thiee sides of a -ijuare, open towaril> the river, and are of a size commensurate wiih the eoiiH'sercial impoi'tiince of tlui jilace Informer day- ail the goods intended tor '.onsumpti(jn in the of wlieat, which does not ri|ion, and the dates for plantinj,^ and roaj)in^r, are miicli the same as those jjfoviously stated for Foi't Providence. Potatoes arc usiiail}- ])lanted between tlio 15th and 2(lth of May, but this season (1888) were not put in, owing to (he unusually late spring, until the li8th, and re(|uire aiiout four nionliis to mature, in an ordinary yeiir foity bushels of seed will yield from six to seven hundred bushels, but the crops are sometimes injured by summer frosts. Barley, which is the onl}- co -eal grown, is BOAvn about the 20th of May, and is usually ripe by the 2nih of Septem- ber. No dilHt'ulty is experienced in raising such garden vegetables as cal)bagcs, lurnips, beets, kc, and -Mr. Camsell seemeil isanguine that even melons and tomatoes would ripen if properly tried. The .soil jiere is a stitf clay loam. Warm wcitlur. The Warm weal her which commenced Oil the 1st of May continued throughout the month, and under its inlluence the snow ipiickly disaj)- peared. and the spring advanced with astonishing rapidity. On the 2Uth of April, the til^t day the tem|ierature rose above freezing point for near- ly six months, the barking crow (Corrus Aturricanus) made its appear- ance. The raven {Corrus cora.r) had remained ihroughniit the winter. On the 1st of May some Canada geese {Branta Canadcnsi,^) wore seen at the edge of an open place in the river, accompanied by a Hock of merganser.s and other ducks. The Uh brought the robin (Tiiriius mujra- torious) and some sparrows, and (m the 5lli tin' v.avies (^Anser hijjnr- borcus) which usually lag a few days in the rear of the Canada geese, commenced to wing their way northwards, and in a couple of days were ^lassingin sucdi numbois that flocks wei'e rarely out of sight. The lirst goose was -hot ai the fort on I lie 5lli, the succe.ssful marksman re- ceiving, according to imnuMuorial custom .al the Iludson's Hay establish- ments, a ])resenl of a j)0und each of the two luxuries of the country, tea and tobacco. By the 10th the ground was binc in many places, and siicli hitc l)irls alonj^ the river which have low situatinns, until the danger is past. Fort Simpson has never been injure. An iiilerviii ot' ;mxioiis siispen-e I'ollowed, duriiiu,' wliieh the water rose within a loot of the >ui face, and then ti) uur intense I'elief the ice commenced to luiive dnwn the livcr, a sure >inn that thedam lieiow was broken. Al'lor tiie ^hove llio water tell ([uickiy and ail dani;er theend, a distance of seventy miles, is X.N.W., and its eurrent in average stages of the water ha.s a velocity of about four miles an hour. Tho banks of the valley appear low owing to the great size of the I'iver. hut in reality havi' often a height of two hundred feet or over. The appear- ance of this pai't of the .Mackenzie, ami of tho unending spruce forests which border it is monotonous and uninteresting, and is only relieved by the majesty inseparable from the .silent sweep ol a i'iver of its magnitude. Four miles below the fi)rt on the right hand bank is an exposure of the same Devonian shales which were noticed opposite the mouth of the Liaid. They are overlain by arenaceous boulderclay and by sand. Two miles fail her down, .Martin I'iver comes in from the south, and below it are sections of stratified sands belonging to the upper part of the glacial tleposits. Scarpeil banks, showing boulder- clay overlaid by sands, apjioared sit intervals as we descended tho river, T «l> CONNELL ] I iiItT M.MI'>CN TO FoKT NnRMAN. 8',l l> T hilt no riii'tlu'i- ox]M)--iii'o- iif the umli'ilyin^f rucks wcir iiDtict'il until tlic (ircat IJciul was roiiilieil. Twenty miles or so above tlie (iieat licnd the elevaiinn of the coun- AUuvini i.Imui. li'V siiiMenly (loci'enses, ami wo enter a flat plain, eviiicntly alluvial in its oi'iLi'in. wliii'ii cxli'nils almost to the foot of the mountains. 'I'lic I'ivei' lioie \viilcn> out and oneloses niimeious islands, and il> liank^ arc low and -andy. The liiard crosse> a similar plain in that part of its cour.-c where it skirt-- the Koidvies, and the two plains as stated in the deseription of that ri\er ma\' be connected b;.' a euntinunu> depres- sion runninii; aluni^ the lia.-e of the miuinlain-. Tlio Nahanni Iliver joins the Maeken/.io at the(ireat liend. This .Valiinni Rivor. stream - rojiurted to head neai' the sources of a second stri'am of the same i,,ime, whieh empties into the Liard at the Nahanni luitte. and eaiioOH can be taken from one to the other. It is upwards of a ipiai 'w of a mile wide at its mouth, but is shallow and tilled with islaiuU and gravel bars. After leaving Fort Simpson the ^Facken/ie gradually aj)pi'oaehes the mountains, and at the (ireat ]5end it strikes against them, and is then deflected to the north. 1 Kpent a day here on a tramp in- A wallv inlana land. A walk nf about tour miles across a marshy spruce-covered plain intersected with muskegs, and ovci- numeinus dril't- of last melt- ing snow, brought us to the foot of the mountain, and a t'urther walk of a mile up a gra(.lually increasing gradii'ut to the (ditVs which lineil its summit, wboro a stiff (dimb of about flOO feet awaited us, nr rather one of us, as the Indian I had brought along declined risking his neck and remained below. The mountain I ascended has a height abi)vethe river, measured by the anei'oid bai'omelerof ;!.000 feet, but i-- gri'atly exceeded in this respect In' some of the ranges in the rear, which musi ajiproach 5,0()iO feet in height. From the summit the usual ])rospeel presented itself. To the N. K. a vast expanse of forested country de- versified with occasional lake- and marslie- sju'ead beyond the lino of sight, and in an o])posite direction appeareil a midtiludinnus succession of partly snow-clad limestone ridges. The limestones here have a gene- ral westerly dip at low inclinations, and in some of the t1at-t OEOLfxlICAI, AND NATI'RAI, III8T0HV >UftVKV OF ('ANAT)A. 1:1 Ciitiiiimc on dnwii river. Miickcnzie enlpr," lunuiilaiiitf. Fort Wrink'.v. willi (uU- s|Piir. In tho uppor jmrt oi' the section tlic iliiloniite?^ are I'c'pluccd ti) a ^rcat extent by jji-eyish liniostonos, but ai'e never entirely alisent. Xo fo>8ils were obtained in the lovvei' part of the ^eetion. and the upper beds yielded only Nonie badly preserved eorals, somewhat resembling those which ehanicterize tiie Intermodiato limestone of the Bow Hiver seelion. Tho whole series is evidently older ilian tho flat lyinu' Devonian .-hales and associated limestones exposed alotm,' the river, and 1 have little hesitation in rel'en-ing the lower part of it at least, mainly on lithological grounds, t(j tho widely distributed Castle Mountain uroup. Tho upper part has a greater rcsemblunee to the Intermediate limestone, and probably belongs to the b/wer part of the Devonian. ( >ii tjie way back to the river 1 I'ound Am monr patens, the tir>t tlower of the sea.-on (May ;{1;, in full iiloom in -unny exposures along the base of the mountains. On June 1st we continued on down tho river, and alter passing the mouth of ihe Xahaniii iliver lient away to the noilb. Tlie I'iver is now bordei'ed on the loft, at a distance of three to four /nilos, by lofty ranges ot' steep-faced niouiitains. and on the right by a wooded plain. Twelve mile- below the Naliurini liivei' we passed the mouth of a large -I ream coming in fiom the wot, and twenty niib'- farther on. aflei' li'avcUing for some distance behind a b:)ng island, reached Willow iiiver. Since leaving the (Jreat Uenti the baidvs have been low, and with the exception of bouUlei-clays have alfoided no exposures. At Willow I{iver the Mackenzie may be said to enter the mountains. as a range, low at tirst, but -oon attaining a height of 4,0(1(1 foot or over, now a]>pear- on the right-hand side. This I'angc does not cros- the river, and must mark the beginning of an entirely new line of dis- turbance. It affords a gooil exam[>le of the echelon arrangement so fi'eciuently alfected by the Rockies. On the left-hand side, the moun- tains have receded to some distance from the river, and are flanked by a high wooded ridge, behind which some naked limestone ])eaks can be seen. Kour miles bcl^)w Willow Iiiver a high hill abuts against the right- hand bank of the .Mackenzie, the face of which is scored by a deep Coulee, cut out of soft dark shales, interstratitied with some ironstone. These shales are unfossiliferous, but resemble e.xactl}' some which 1 aftcrwanis found below the ''Rock by the River side,'' and which hebl Devonian fossils. Fifteen miles fartlier down wo reachcil Fort Wrig- ley. an out|)ost of Fort Simpson. Ojiposite the fort are a couple of small islands, buill of heavily bedded dark grey limestone, holding Zaphrmtis and Alriqnt. iJetwoen the islands ami the right-hand bank NMLL.] KORT SIMI'SON To KnRl' NnUM.VN. !)1 II M» I'lipiiln art' stilted to occur in low w;it<>i'. Imt ihov .•ii-f not cviiloni when tlie river in in flo<»(l. Sovon miles bolow Fort Wriylev, stratitiod >anils and ^'ra\-t'ls Hiv>r i.iuw comoiited liy carltonato ol' linif into a iiard eon^lomorato, wc»ro oliservod to Dvcrlic the liouldoi'olay. The rivt-r at this point ha- a width of tlirce-iiuarters of a mile and a current of live nulos an 'lour. Tiio valley is ahont oOd feet deep. Ru^'iced rani^es of lofty nmu itains border it on either iinnd at a distance of about fifteen milc8, and are He|)arated fi'om if by a plain relio'-ed occasionally by isolated hills, small rid,ii;es and jilateaii elites. Four miles below theconi4;li>merates Just noted an exposure of Devonian shales occurs, below wliiih boulder-clay and associated sands and gi'uvels occupy the banks all the way to near the '• Ro(dc by the River side." Three miles above this rnck are a couple of well marked terraces. The>e t'orm a somewhat unusual feature in the structure of the valhy and were nnfiicd and described by Kiidiard- son.-^- "Three miles iiifjher u]( the stream there aie two I'ivei- terraces, more complete than any I noticed elscwhei'e on the Mackenzie, thoui;-h in many jilaces a high and low b,iid< can be traced. These terraces are composed of fine sand, and the slope between them is so steep as to requiiv to be ascended on all four>. l>oth tei'races ar^' very regidar in their outline, and are covered with well gniwu Plnus Bank4itna. The uppermnst is about twn hundred and lift}' feet above the river." The •' Hock by the Iiiver sitle" was ascended in ITS'.I by Sir Alex- i{„ck i,y tia- ander Mackenzie. It forms part of a small range which I'rosses the river here in a tlirection somewhat diagonal to the general course of the main ranges. It presents a steep face towards the river, abuve which it rises to a height of l,r)ii(j teet, 'J'his hill is built mainly of limestones, striking almost noi'lh and south, and dip|)ing to the west at an angle of between <{' cnials ni' various kinds, and in others I obtained some sjiecimens of PrmlwU ll'i iicu(' ('/«, vai'. cttaracta, an Actlnoptn'ia : a Pardcijclas. a fragment of a (I'yroci rcis, and the ])ygidia of a couple of trilobites. Some of this limestone is slightly bituminous, and a mineral spring said by Richardson to resemble sea water in it- composition, trickles down over its face. * Journal of a Boat Voyage tlirougli KuiJiTtV-^ Lanti. Vol. I, p. ISS. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) / O :<^€P. •P/ 1.0 I.I 1.25 |50 "^* •IT 1^ IIIM IM 20 1.8 U 111.6 I 01 /a o / M Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 92 F> OEOr.Ofiir.M. \M> NATIKAr, IlISTORV SIUVEV OK CANAHA. s 1 I Sii^kiitohowiin Km vol.". Iinmeiliattly heli-w tlio '" Rock liy the River side" is a soetimi >l)(i\v- iiijf stratiticy a heavy bed of typical bouldoi-cda}'. Thnso beds ocfupy the same jiositioii ;is tlie |irf-^laiMid i^ravels sn nxti-n-ivdy dt've|i>|)> i in the l>:i>iii ot the Sasiwhere applied the name of the SasUatehewan f^raveJH. and it will he as widl ti> retain the same name for tiiem Iiore. Oil the soiitht-rii phiins t ins i,q-avol is ei>ni])iis('d alinnst exehisively of \'\<\t ]iliiteiiii. S'icw from liliilonii. Tlieillnck- wiitvr. (luart/itu |K' lililfs, hut here it I'oniaiiis in adi litinli «l,hh .f I inR'stdiie and of jjneis- and granite, ail well r>i!li'd. Six miles i)elovv the " Rock by the Riverside" is a cut bank about 250 feet hiifli, Hho\vin_^ dark _i,'reyish shales, intcrstratified with ironstone and hoidini.' Uevoniaii fossils, 'riii'se >hales are horizontal hut aresunii cut otf liy a pre-.i^hicial dopreswion tilled with stratified sands and^ravels. Six miles farthci- down cx|io>ures of gieyi-li-grcen Devonian shales appear attain and recur at intervals for several miles, and ai'e then succeeded by the str.'itified sand- anil ;;raveU of the dritt which continue to the IJIack- wator and beyond. Ten miles above the Blaekwater a visit was made to a small plateau which here borders the river at a distance of tjiree or four miles, and whieh showed exposures, whieh from the river i-esemblcd samlstone. The valley of the Mackenzie hei-e ha- a iie])th of two humlred feet. After leaving it we ero-scd a level jdain which stretches eastwards to the foot of the plateau. This plaiii pi'oveil to he e\ceedinij;ly wet and swampy, and most of the way across we W(>i'0 wading kneo-ileep through yielding moss or ice-cold water. It is partially wooded with small ])ino, spruce, aspen ami tamaiac. none of which have a diameter exceed- ing six inches. At the foot of the plateau .1/*^ /;i,7i'' jiaf>ns and .1. jnirriiliird were found in bloom (.lune*!"). Tlu' |ilaleau faces westwards, with a height ot' l.OtjO feet above the jilain at its base, and is built of westerly dipping I>evonian limestones. Krom the toj) of the plateau, the main range of the Rocky Mountains, which is here too far from the left bank of the river to be -een from the valley, came int(j sight, while in ;»n oppo-ite ilirection a good \ iew was obtained of the I'ocky range which borders the river to the east. The plain between these ranges. throUirh which the river (lows, has a width of sixty or seventy miles. It show- numerous lines of wooded heights running parallel with the river, but possesses no cons])ieuous elevjitions. The Blaekwater has a width ot' seventy-live yard-. It is the outlet of a lake situ.ated on the fartlpr side of the range east of the river. Two njile- below the RIackwaier the Mackenzie makes a sudden bend of three miles t') the left, below whieh it receives from the west a stream about .-i bundled vard- in width, the luime of which 1 wa-t MlCONNE.L . KXUT SIMPSON TO KOIIT NiHlMAN. 0:5 It A. ion sliow- t)f tyi)ic;il >rc-;,'laci:il *'\viiri, ainl atcliowari liem lioie. iisivoly of linu'stoiif 10 '■ Uociv villi; (lai'lv Devonian ii'e-irliU'ial s f'ai'llu'f siiiin and >d by the 10 iJlack- I |)hifeaii lilcH, and inilstoiio. ri'd feet. wards to Wet and tlii'diiijli til small r exceed - and .1, si wards. 1)11 lit of plateau, too far line inti^ i of tlie lietween )f sixty Minning outlet e liver, en Iteiid we-t u 1 I was iiiiaMe to oliiaiii. 'I'iie l>aiiivs of the vallrv ar-nuid the Lend are alioiit three liiindied teel in hei,i;iit. and -iiow hoiilder-ehiy overlying sixty loot of Saskateliowan j^'ravels ami passing upward into yellowi-h strati- tied silts Three miles below the bend i> a .-eclion ot -j;reyish ^anoni,'c,.u.- overlaiil i>y noft greyish and yellowisii sandstone, which 1 iiavo lillie .loubt re])resents the Cretaeeoiis. The beds enclose layers and solitary nodules of ironstone, and have a thickness of three hundred feet. No fossils wore obtained here, br.t somewhat similar beds further down the river yielded fragments of the te>t of an Inoc' ramus. After enier- inir the Cretaceous ba>iii, the proportion of Handstone and quartzite [udildes in the wash of the stieain and in the bank> becomes greatly increased. Tlie ('retaceoii> bed.- here are horizontal, and have siitlt'ivd mu(di from jire-glacial denudation. Three miles below the exposure tirsi noted, an eroded trough in their surface is tilled with 14<» leet of Saskatchewan gravels, toiijied with fifty feel of boulder clay. The SaHkatchewan gravels here hold rounded ([uart/itc jiebbles from the size of a man's head downwards. These gravels in >ome places form two thick bands, -cparatol by san.ly be NATIJIIAI, HISTORY SURVEY OF CANADA. Diirk ImiiiIiU'i cliiy.- 1\1 OM Fori Niiniutii. Numerous iBliiiid!'. r>iincl-sliUe.«. For Homo miles below Riviere du (iravois the hanks of the MacUonzii' are Ibrmed of a dark plastic clay, ominently liable to slides, wiiicli at a distance resembles tlie Pierre shale-, hut on closei' examination pioved to he a hiiulder-clay. This clay in places is interslratitieil with beds of f^ravol, and for lon below is from two to thi'ce miles in width, and divides ai'ound an ahnosl continuous series of alluvial i-lands. At this season of the year the passage of thc-e islands in small boats is attended witii some danger. The soil above the riv. ■■ •" still frozen, while below the surface of the water it is giadually thawed out and carried away. The unsupported mass above frcfpiently breaks otl, and is precipitated into the water with a violence sufficient, in some cases, to produce huge waves, which often sweep the river with great impetuosity from siilo to side. On the night of the Sth of .lunc we were awakened by a loud roai-, and hurrying out could see through the gloom a white mass travelling rai)idl3' towards \is. A moment later, although we were fully fifty feet fi'om the >hore, we were standing ankle deep in water. Our boat, which fortunately was well secureii. escaped uninjui'cil. but this was entirely due to the fact that a sulunerged bar, a hundred yards from the shore, broke to a large extent the force of the wave. The next morning we found that a narrow strip of land, fully half a mile long, liad detached itself fiom an island diiectly o|)posite our camji, and had ^ullen into the water. Opposite the islands the hanks of the valley have l)oen broken down by numerous land-slides, and rise in a succession of irregular steps. The bare clayey Blojjes are covered in plat-es with saline otibresence. . MrCONKCLL •] BEAR RIVER TERTIARY. itf) I) and ill tliis and other lespectM siniulaU- so exactly tl'o ruinous iippear- anccot'ltankN forniod of Pierre slialos, that 1 had to land atHoveral points in order to assure inysolf tiiat this was not the laHi-. l\'l)bl('w and lioul- ders are much scart'Oi- in tiiis day than is usually tiie case with bouldei' clays, liul a careful examination ot a section usually revealed their pre- sence in some quantities. I'.EAR River Tkrtiary. About twenty miles below the site of old Fort Norman, thesott clays n^ar River and sands of the Hear Kivcr Tertiary beds appear in the bank-, lied- '>""''"■•>■ ''eJ'^ dish burnt shales were found alonj; the lieach some miles farthei' up, and indicate an extension of the liasin towards the south, but the beds are liiddon in this dii'cction beneath i)oulder-clay slides. Tbo first good sections mot with in descending the river occur on the loft baidc, about twont3'-four miles above the mouth of liear Rivei'. My attention was drawn to this he<'ti(>n by (ho presence in it of a cnnspiJuous white bed, which is noticeable from the opi»osite side of the i-ivei-. Tertiary beds are ex])Oseil here along the banks of tho river for a distance of two railos. Tliey dip up stream at the rate of about a hundred feci to the mile, and have a minimum thickness ot' four bundred feet. Tho lowest „('b'Ji|' seen consist of yellowish and greyish, slightly indurated sands. The sands show crossd)edding, and hold occasional layers of j)ebblcs. Thev are ovei'laid by thirty or forty feet of bluish ami yellowish sandy shales, above which comes three to four feet of woody lignite. The lignite is succeeded by a thin bed of yellowish clay, and then by liftcen feet of a whitish-weathering arenaceous siiale. This shale is very soft, and towards its base is I'ich in fossil loaves. The beds above tiie leaf shales consist of clays, sands and a couple of beds of lignite, each three to four feet thick, but tl;ey aie not very well exposed. The lignite has been burnt in many places, and has hardened and reddened tho enclosing shales. These baked shales when separated often exhibit beautiful impressions of loaves and fruits. The various beds ai-e extremely irregular both in thickness and composition, and in i)assing along the strike, thick beds soon thin out ami disappear, ard claj's, sands and pebl)les are found to succeed one another with great rapidity. A noticeable fealui-e of tho section is the slight induration to which the various bods have been subjected. Some of tho sandy layers are as loose as the sand on the bars in the present river channel, and none are hard enough to resist crushing between the tingers. In this res|)ect and also in their lithological composition, the beds here bear a closer resemblance to the Miocene 9(1 D iiEnI,(lUI<'AI. AND NATtKAr, IIISTORV SI IIVKY OK ( ANADA. M Fii.-^il leiivi and fruit.-. of the Cvpross Hill- and S'/itt (.'iiri'ciit CiTck pliU'caiix tliar\ to tlic Liiraiiiif. Tliu I'olluwiiig si'ition illiislraleis tlio altt'iatidiiol' liio iieds ; — Ii'Ol. Iiiolicj. I. K.Ml.lish l.akiMl shiil.' L' .. ■_'. • '(•■iiin-culnrcil haUi-il clay n '■> :!. ( in^yisli ttaiiil :'« 4. Fossil woi 1(1 1 f). Yellowisli clay I li II. Wilitiali-wf'ailit'rin).' sainly .slia]n.s lioltliiijj: loasil leiiM'K 1"> 7. Siili'liiir-yciiow clay '2 s. '(Vdddy lij_'iiite 1 ".I. Bamly clay :iii 10. Li-iiite ;; 11. I'al.so bcddetl yelluwisii and lmcvIsIi sands, witli layers of |iel)l)les I lowest buds exposed I In 1(M» •") III lu'd Xo. (! a imml'pr of t'o>>il Icavos and fVuit> was colleetcd. On my return tlie>o weri' jilacfd in the hands of Sir William Dawson. and tiirnisiiod the suhjocl oi' a ^Imrt |ia|ier whitdi wa> irad by bun before the Royal Soi'iety of Canada, from which 1 c.Ktract tlie fnl- lowilli;- : — ■- i'opuix's Ar^tica, Il'ir. — This i> much tlie most alnindaiit >pecie> in Mr. MeConneH's eoUeelion, and seems to show that then, a- now, this genus was dominant. 1 ii> is an Kuropoan, as well as an American and (irei'iiiand species, and presents a great vaciety in the size and forms ot tile U'aves which li;is given rise to the formation of several sjieeies. Mr. 3Ie( 'onneil's specimens show a great number ot gradations in form, from a broad oval to a very broad reniform, and in size I'rom one inch to four in diameter. Its occurrence in the Laramie of western Canada is noticed in my pajier on Ijaraniie ]dants (Trans. I'oy. Soc. Can., lasii). There seems to be some uncertainty as lo tiie reference of this leaf to Popiihis. Saporta thinks ihat it may really he a Mcnosiicrmum, allied to the modern ^I. Vir^iinicum. it' a pojilar, it is remarkable that its nearest living ally seems to lie 1'. Eujilo'atica of the banks of tlie Kuphrates and .rordan. POPUM'S AIICTK .\, Vitr. I.ATIOR. Poi'i'LUS IIooKERi, Bei'r. — This speeies, found thii- tar only at Mack- enzie Eiver. has small leaves resembling those of 1*. Aniica inform, but dilfeiing somewhat in venation, in which it approaches slightly lo P. tremulot'iies, the common aspen. • Traii9R0tiuii8 of the Huyal Society of Canada, Vol. VII., .Section iv., 188it. * MrCONNFLL •] HEAH RIVER TERTIARY. 97 I) leaf niium, that ■ the Taxites Oi.riki, Heer. — Thi> large and bonutifiil Taxioe plant oc- eurs in the Kocene nf Kuro|»e, and is f'ounil also in A'.anka and (rroon- land. It is alMindunt in the eoUeetions of Dr. Solwyn from Soiiris River, doMcrilied by ino in tho Report of the (Joologieal Surve}' of Canada (ISTD-SO). It does not soeni as yet to lave been reeou;iiized in the United Stated, and is probably a disliiiclivol} northern I'orm. ll is said by Sehiniper to resemble closely a species of <'e])halota.im found iu ( 'hina and Japan. Sequoia Lanushokfii, Hrmujt. — This speeios is very wiilely distri- buted in time and space, if all the forms referred to it are really of one species. It ranges from the U])per Cretaceous into the Miocene, and in reality is not very remote in its characters from the living Senuoid sonpirvi/xna ut' California, which may be a modern vaiiely. It oetiirs in Greoidaiid, in the Laramie of viwious places in the Uidted Slates, and is widely ilistrilmtcd in Kurope. Eoth leafy twigs and remains of cones occur in the Mackenzie collection. In tho Helly River (rroiip of Canada the species S. lleirhenbiichii replace^ it, and the species referred io S. Lanijsdorfii from the I'pper Crotaeeou> of Nanaimo. Vancouver Island appears to be S. Smitliiaiui, which also occurs in the Ivootanio of the Rocky Mountains. It seems therefore uncertain it in Canada it is as old as the Cretaceous, and it may in any case be regardeii as specially characteristic of tho I'pper Lai-amie or Kocene flora. Pteuis Sitkensis. liter. — This fern, not prcviuusly collected nn the Mackenzie, was originally collected near Sitka in Alaska, and con- stitutes another link of connection between tho flora of the I'acidc coast and that ot the interior region in the early Kocene age. XoRi)ENSKi(iM)iA unREAMS, JleiT. — This is a beautiful frnil. dividetl into lobes at top and sui»po-'et time in • anada. Il is by some reforreil to the genus Ciatus or to Diospyros. Cahpomthes. — Oval, tlattoncd boilies, probably seeds or fruits, abnut one centimetre in length ami without distinct markings. They may bo seeds possibly of Taxitos, but their atfinities for the present must remain uncertain, and I do not give them a specific name, in the hope of additional facts being discovered. LEize ami l)r(iU(ioi' form. Ono shows what seems to bo tho rotnains (»t'a shoatli onalyx. ('Ar-MsTEMopiiTLLiM LATUM, Daifsoii. — Leaf Giitiio, ohovate, without jtetiole. Midrib cliHtiiu-f, secondary veins obsolete; iiidieatioiis of is probably a .Myrtaceous leaf and may, pro- visioiiall}- at ieawt.lio jthned in the ^omis above named. It seems quite ditroreni from tlic other described sprcies. PvRiTi/.En AND Ferri liiNoi K WooD. — Tho rolleclion contains several branehes and portions of f-toms evidently of Hxoi^enniis trees, but in a >l!ite of preservation whieh does not admit of distinct determination. Sbi'oeter. aH alreaf these Transactions. " Tho stratigraphical side of tho question will be stated later on. On tho right hand side of the river, mud slides derived from the boulder- clay conceal the underlying beds for the next five or six miles, and then the plant beds appear again, and are almost continuoush- exposed all the way to the mouth of Hoar River. The lignite seams in this i,iKniic.«oiims reach are on tire in 8»'veral places, and have been burning since the locality was first visited by Sir Aloxandei' .Mackenzie, just a century ago. The boranncs are now active along tho valley for five or six miles only, but reddened >hales, baked by former tires, were noticed for a much greater distance. Nine miles above tho mouth of Bear River a band of yellowish and greyish soft sandstone, overlain by a great thickness of unstratified chi}-, forms the side of the valley. A couple of miles farther down sections of tho same sandstone, 11*5 feet Abi' "f l>ed8. nil lire. ■ McCONNIU.] HKAU BIVBR TKllTIARV. 9!) I. ,. in thickness, aro expos*Ml. This sundHtorif is very sofY, but has sutli- M.escrliition cioiit coherencv to otiaulc it to weather in rathei' sleep clitls. it is lilieii witii pehljjos, most of wiiich arc luuler iialf an im-h in diann'ter, but it also contains some larger on<'s, ramming in si/.c up to nine oi' ton inches in t' the larger oni's it* their thitteneil -piierciiiial sliapo. The peiihlos furni small beds, running in irregular manner through the sandstone, but nevei' exteniit ler- tiaiy hedh jirolmbly untleiii«' the flat country which l>or(lei's Hear River for twenty mile-' above its mouth, 'i'hcy cannot extend more than lifteen or twenty miles in a w«-.t«'rly direction, as a lolly liiiiohtonc range runs parallel with the river at altoiit that distiince. 'i'he ilis- tributioii of the beds is thus limitoi to an area forty or fifty mile-« in length, and thirty or forty in width, and may be considerably less. The bods ol' this Tertiary basin are cvidontU- lacustral in their origin, and both in litholoLciial iharacter and ^tl•atigra|lhical position have a much cb^er resemblance to the Miocene (White Kivcr; of the Cypress Mills and neighboring araas than to the Larami*' with whi' b their fossil flora correlates them. Like the Cypress Hills beils they are characterized by their irregular deposition, by their slight indura- tion anil by the large proportion of gravel and jiebble beiU which they contain, aiul a lurtber degree of relation>hip is evidenced by the tiicl that they both rest iinconformably on the beds beneath. Merolitholo- gical similarity in the case of two such wiflel^- separated detriial terrnnos is of vi-ry little value in determiniiiL;' age, and in the present instance might be dis'-egarded, were it not supp'ited by the more im- portant feature of a correspomling structural break. In the area of the (Jreat Plains, and even in the Hoc ky .Mountains, the Laramie i-i everywhere confoimablc to till' Cretaceous beds below, but .sustains a discordant relation to the overlying Tertiarios, and it has been IouikI that its termination was synchronous with a widespread olova- tionofthe land and the formation "i' fresh water lakes, in which the succeeding deposits were laid down. At the mouth of Bear Hiver, in- stead of a conformable passage from the Cretaceous to tho Tertiary. wo have evidence that the former was elevated and subjected to a pro- longed donudation before the latter was deposited. In order to recon- cile the stiatigraphical i)0>ition of the Bear Hiver beds with a Laramie age, it will therefore be neeessaiy to assume that this part of tho con- tinent was, towards tho t-nd of the Cretaceous period, atl'octed by extensive movements of elevation and depression in which fho central part did not participate. MiCONKIll.] UK. Ml IIOCK. 101 i> . I wiiH (Icsl.'iyoil a roupic i.f ilaj's iit I'oit N'i)rman, aii'l wliil<' llmro a«ct«ii(lo(l lU'HV l{ncU. Tliis I'lovation is situated in tlic iiiii,'lc tui-iiu'il l»y tliojiini'tlon of Hoar liivov with tlu' MacktMizif. ami iiitis In a iii»rlli- A^'i-en.i Boar orly diivctioii lor tliroo or four iniios, with a width ot almut a mile. It '^"''*" was found to have a lifi;,dit of 1,4(10 foot. l''rotn its siimtnit an cxlfn- sivc viow ovor the snrroiindirii: I'oiinlry was olitainoil. 'I'iic .Mmlvt'ii/ii- valloy horo |iio>eMt8 thc'^anio^'oiioral foatiiroH which have characdoiizod yj^.^ |r„„, it sinco loavin,i,Mho <,'roat hond. !t cufH tlirongh a foro>tt'd plain lifly lo "'""■ '*""'*• sixty milos in width, whicli i- hroUon liy low plalcan^and liilU, and rim iiu'd in on citlior sid»' hy lofty litncslone laiiixi-.s still wrappi-d in ihiMr wintor oovorini;-. 'I'm the southeast, .Mount Claik, foity l>> lifly miles away, formed the luudctfroimd to a lalvi'-dottod ami tiMost clad plain whi(di swc])t up to its Last'. Troni the northern shoulder of liiis mountain a line of lower elevations e.xtendeil to lic.ir i{iver, and cro-.s- ing it continued in a northerly direition Kevond the raiii^^e of siijht. Rear Hiver lyiii',' almn>l at our foot, and makiiii,' a great eurve to the left could he traced winding through an almost level plain until it entered and was lost in tlio wide gap wlii( h it has cut through the range deta(diod from .M^)unt ('lark. Looking acro>> tiie river in a south- westerly direction the view was hounded at a ilistance of twenty-live or thii'ty miles hy a?i irregular range of limestone jieaks and ridges which ran norlh-west and south-east as far as the eyo could r'cat h. Anumln r of streams dosconding from the mountains united tu form a considcr- Jil)le river which, after a short course, empties into the .Mackenzie a few miles htdow Hear River. 1 was somcwiiat surprised at the extent and ap|iareiit thiidviiess of the snow liclds. whiidi still covered the Hanks and summits of the higher elevations, hut on cn(|uiry was inll)riin'(l that they all disap|)ear hefore the end of the summer. Hear Hock is sojiaralcd from the main range, and is huill of limestones, (juartzites and shales, hcnl into the form of an anii(dinal. A small stream cuts deeply into the heart of the mountain and exposes smiotnre ..f a very good section. The lowest beds seen consist of rtddi^h and greenish shales, alternating with layers of piid< colored gypsum, and cut by numerous vein- and seams of a white tilirous variety of the same mineral. The gypsum in parts of the section replaces the shales al- oyi.Mim. most altoirother, and the layers arc separated hy more 111 ms of greenish and reddish argilaceous material. The base of the gypsifcrous shales was not seen, but they are at least several hundred feet in thick- ness. They arc overlain by a series of dolomites, (j[uartzites and limestones six lo seven hundred feet thick, and then by the bluish coral hearing limestones of the Devonian. Some of the limestone is bituminous, and emits a fetid odor when struck, and Franklin stales II 102 r. OEOI.UdlCAL ANIi NATUaAL IIISTORV SURVEY K tlio clear, I' l{oi'k iinil ti'ft'H Won- !^ liiid liiiii^' npaiiied by '"<1 OtIlOIH, ■« ImIow mil I • I 1 11 I. '■""f N"riu»ii river. 1 neH4' >halOM are lionzoiilal, and are overpain liy »ome wott mIihIo.s, Hand-slono and nodular hedn hoidiiiji^ foHHil oysters, wiiieh are prohalily of Cretai-eouH a^^e. In tho Me.vt twenty-live miles small sec- tionsol liliiish shale, shaly sandstones and lime-tones, holdin:^' Uuvoniaii fosHils, are exposed at intervals. Kartiior down this nories sinks helow tlieMurfaee, and Ih Hiicceedeil hy jiost -Tertiary winds, jjravtds and -hales, whicli ic-emli|i' in apptjirance the Teitiarv heds at the month 'il Hear River, hut are distinguished from them h}' holding fra;;ments ot li;,'- iiite, which lire eviilontly derived from the latter. The^- are overlain by soft marly beds, holding recent freHh-water Hhells. Tho rivoi- here is over two miles wide, but is obstructed by numerous ishuuls and bai>. In the next interval often miles there are no exjiosures, and then HCarped banks appear again. Hero tho rockn consist of rusty, reddish- weathering shales, interstratitiod with small beds uf sandstone and ironstone, and holding fragnients of InDceriimi nf Cretaceous age. These rocks are very similar to the Cretaceuus bed- found abuve the Hoar Hiver Tertiary area, ami probably rejtrosent a part nl tho same basin cut ott' by denudation. Helow this exposure the beach is shelving, antantly fiiUing, prevented us from landing, while tho waves, beioming momentarily larger, threat ened to swamp our overladen boat, and we were only kept afloat by incessant bailing. The -everity of the gale remlered any attempt to gain the opposite shore hopeless, and our ordy chaiico of safely lay in finding, iind thai speedily, a break in the ice wall, which sti-el( hed out apparently interminably before us. Fortunately for us, such a break, formed by a small side -treain which had cut its wa\- ibiough the icy embaid^ment, was soon leached. These ice clifi's are the remains of ice dams formed when the river is breaking up in llio spi'ing. When tho dam is forced by the ])rossuro of the water behind, tho central |)art floats away, but the masses whiih have been shoved up on tho shore remain there until melted by the sun. Near the mouth of tho river at which we landed, is a small clifV formed "'"niilinn limcstuin'. of a yellowish-weathering coralline limestone. Some of the beds are brecciatod, and the appearance of the whole section is remarkably like that seen at the mouth of Buffalo J{iver on Great Slave Lake. Throe 104 D OEOLOOICAI- AND NATLRAI, HISTORY SIRVEV OF CANADA. i!i III i I' rri'liiccou." >linlcs. Roche Cliri';ijiiii . none of which attain any consider- able elevation, but to the soutli-west a well defined j'angc of rugged peaks can be tracetl stretching away in a north-westerly direction until they sink below ilie horizon. This great range, broken at intervals by outflowing • iroanis, hii> been followed from near Fort Liard on the Liai'd liiver, a distance measured in a straight line of nearly five hun- dred miles. Below tbi.- point the river bends away to the north, and the range is not seen again until Peel Kiver is i-eached. From Boche Carcajou, flic Mackenzie runs almost diu' west for fif- teen miles to the Kastand West Mountains of the raj)id, and then bends more to the north before falling over the SansSault Kapid. In the up])er pui't of this reach it is somewhat contracted, but before I'eaching the mountains if expands considerably, and i^ split up into several channels by islands. Between the two mountains it conti'acts again, and continues somewhat nari-ow as far as the rapid. The banks of the valley lielow Roche Carcajou sliow numerous ex- posures of the shales and sandstones of the Cretaceous, holding fossili- forous iionstone nodules. At the expansion referred to above the Cre- taceous beds are overlaid by jtost-Tei'tiarj- sands. Ka?t Mountain '^^^^ V/A!Ai Mountain of the rapid, like Roche Carcajou, Beai- Moun- of rapid. \,a.\\\^ and numei'ous other elevations in the Mackenzie valley, repre- sents an antii linal uplift of the Devonian limestone. The West Moun- tain of the rapid is situated at some distance from the river, and was • So called from the fancied resemblance of u weathered knob of rock which stands pro- minently out from the face of tlio hill, to the animal nf tiii? name. River liclinv K.iohe - Carcajou. : CretacoDU? shuleij. I M'CONNEIL.] THE RAMPABTS. 105 D not closely oxaininod, hut aw far as could be seen it is of the !*anie nature. At the Kast Mountain the limestones come down to the river, and are exposed along iho shelving shore of the eastern hank for .some di.stanoe. On the opposite side, the hanks when scarped show the shales, sandstones any Franklin* were not seen bj' rae, and were probably covered by the high water. The Kaniparts are frequently the scene of great ice jams in the spring, and tlie dammedback water is stated to have risen on one occasion, over a hundred feet, and on its recession left a boat etrandeove. Above the Ramparts Cretaceous shales and ironstones aio o.xposwl for a couple of miles, dipping at a low angle up the river, but the ac- tual contact ut these with the limestones was not seen. At the head of the ramparts Devonian limestones rise from beneath the Cretaceous, and it is thnnigh these that the carion is cut. The limestone undulates at low angles, but also rises steadily in the walls of the canon as wo descend, at the rate of about tifty feet to the mile. In the upper jiart of the canon the walls are precipitous, and consist ol limestone through- out. The limestones are generally granular in texture and weather to a light cream colour. Some of the upper beds are brecciated and lower down in the band a large proportion of the mass of the '-ock consists of various species of corals. Thin beds of shale attenuated to mere films in some instances, are interstratified with t!ie limestone, and inci'ease in im- ]iortance towards the base. This band of limestone lias a thickness of between I.'jO and 200 feet. Tart way down the canon bluish green shales holding beds of limestone at intervals, appear below the lime- stone band, and increasing gi'aduall^' in height form the basal jjart (jf the walls of the canon the rest of the way. The banks here weather into a steep slojie below, but are crowned with almost vertical dill's above. These shales are precisely similar to those md in the Liard on Hay River, and underlie a similar limestone. The fossil evi- dence demonstrates that they occupy the same horizon in the Devo- nian series. This close resemblance is somewhat remarkable when we bear in mind that the two localities are separated by a distance of five hundred and seventy miles. The shales and intersti'atified limestones are filled with corals, brach- io])ods and other fo.ssils which weather out of the soft rocks in almost * Second .lourneyi p. 22. MrCONNELL.] FORT (iOOIt HOPE. 107 D perfect condition. A l(xi'i,fe collection was made in the couple of hours which I devoted to this purj)ose, from among which the following formn have been identified \>y Mr. Whiteaveb: — Cytitho/ihi/lhnn arcticum, Meek. Aulophjjllmn Richurdsoni, Meek. Cystiphyllum Aniericanum var. arcticum, Meek. Parhijpora ccrviconils, De Biainville. Alccolitis rallorujn. Meek. Spirorbis omphaloJcs, Gold fuss. Coraulites (Ortonia) siililanio as those found at the Ramparts, are overlain by yellowish limestone. In the next twenty-live miles, or as far as the Grand View, Devonian shales overlain occasionally liy yellowish-weathering fossili- ferous limestones, are exposed at intervals all along. The left bank of the river on this reach is usually low and sloping, but the right is bounded for some miles by high limestone clitls similar to those at the Ramjiarts. At the head of the Gi'aml View the elitfs leave the river and bend more to the north. Richardson states that the upper por- tion of the cliffs consists of sandstones and shales, which, from his de- scription, evidently lielong to the Cretaceous. Wbere I examined them limestone alone was seen, but it is possible that this may be cap)»eil in places by outliers of the Cretaceous rocks which rest on the Devonian limestones above the Ramparts. • Canadiau Ueooril of Science, tiaiiuary. 18'.mi. MlCOHNELL ] KORT (IdOI) HOPE TO THE MOUTll OF I'EEI. RI\ KU. 100 D I* Tho "(rraiid View" i.s a name given to an expanded portion of iIiCTiuiiran.l Mackenzie, about twenty miles in lengtii. The river hero i,s almost ^ "^"■" stiaiglit, hut curves gently to the north, and is from two to three miles wide. Its gi'cat width gives it more the appearance of a lake than a I'ivor, and in no i>tlier ])ai't of tho Mackenzie is the magnitude of the mighty volume of water wiiich this river carries to the sea impressed so tbrcihiy on tho mind. The banks are low and the sinuous shore- lines show a >uccession of wooded points stretching out until con- coaled by tho haze of the atmosphere. The bordering plains slojio gently down almost to the water's edge, and are covered with a scat- tered growth of willow, sj)rucc and tamarac, with hero and there patches of aspens on the drier ridges. The spruce along part of this reach pr(.'sont> a remarkably stunted and dwarfish apj)earance, but this is due more to the marshy character of tho ground than to climatic severity, as the same tree, straiglit and well grown, was found much turther north. Very little ciiango in the character ,,,„..., „.., , ol'thefore-t was observed in descending the Mackenzie, and with the '^"■'*'''- exception of tiie bank.sian pine, ( l^imis Jianlisiana) which disapjjears south ol' Bear Eiver, the same species, as previously noticed byllichard- son, are found from (ireat Slave Lake to the mouth of I'eel IJivei'. The rocks exposed along the (Irand View consist of dark argilla-, , coous shales, .some of wliich are bituminous, and dark greyish sandy '■nind Vie». shales. Both varieties are fissile and split easily into large thin plates. The sections are small and the shale outcrops onl}' along the water's edge. It is much harder than the shales at the Kamparts, but evidently belongs to the same horizon. Some fossils wei'o collected hei'e, among which are Atnjpa reticularis, L. A. asjicra, Si'hloth. Productella s/dnuli- C06ta, Hall, and a Proctus, probably identical with P. Jfaldcmani, Hall. Fifteen miles below the Grand View my attention was attracted by a small plateau situated some distance east of the river, the face of which showed red patches somewhat similar to those occurring in the burnt Tertiary shales at tho mouth of Bear River and other places. Ko sections had been seen for some miles above, and as 1 was appre- hensive of some now formation appearing which might not bo exposed in tho valley I decided on visiting it. Two hours of extremely ditlicult vi.-it iiatcMu. walking through tangled willows and small spruce, alternating with flooded muskegs, brought me to the foot of the plateau. It jjroved to be formed of Devonian shales, associated with some sandstone and shaly limest«mes, from which 1 obtained specimens of tho ubiquitous Atrijjia reticularis, and of a few other lorms which have not been de- tei mined. No lignitic or coaly seams were observed, the burning of which might color the associated locks, but the shales were found to 110 I) (lEOLO(iICAL AND NATI RAL HISTORY SURVEY OP CANADA. Iliirnt rliiilc!'. Hituminou? Siwkatebcwiin gravels. Clmriicier of Mackinzic. be lii^fhly charifod with bitumen, and the red coloration is undDiibtedly duo to the combustion ot'tliis mineral. Tlie tires have nol been very inten.se, ivh the nhaios are oidy roddentMl on tlio surt'aei', and aro not baked and vitrified like tJK.so found near ti\e imrnt lii;riitc seams at the mouth of Beai- Kiver. Some combustion is evidently goin^ on ut the present time, as a distinct bitursiiious odour was detected near tlie hill, but no flames or smoke were visible. Eight miles below the plateau just docribeil, siralitieil sands of the age of the .Saskatchewan gravels, overlain by bouldor-cla^', are exposed in the right bank, and seven miles fai-ther on Devonian shales aro again found. Tlie shales hero are black in color, evenly bedded and highly bituminous. The lamiiiic. when freshly si-jiarated, are mois- tened on the surface with an oily liiiuid, and burn when thrown into the tire, and patches of red shales, marking the sites of former tires, alternate with the dark varieties. The shales are exposed in the r-iglit baidv lor some miles, or almost as far as old Fort Good l[o|)e. They dip down the river at a low angle, and are overlain by the Saskatchewan gravels an(i boulder-clay. The material of the Saskatchewan gravels here, while mainly quart- zitic, includes also a considerable quantity of gneissic and dioritie pebbles of Archjean origin, the pro|)ortion of which seems to inci'caso as wo descend the river. In addition to these, large angular ma.sse8 of the shales and limestone of the underlying Devonian are frequently ]iresent, and also small beds and disseminated particles and blocks of lignite derived tVoin the Tertiary. The beds of this lerrane are seldom consolidated to any extent, either by pressure or by a com\v- R,.,.k-no,iroM the same disposition towards landslides wliicli cliacactcrized i' aliovo "^ ' "" "''" the moutli ol" Hear Hivoi-. Tiie valley here is alunit two luindied feet deep, and its batdvs, when not broken up by slides, present remark- ably even slopes, on wlilch I found gr'owinif in some abiimlanee the t'amiliar sai^e liusli of the plains, Aitiinisia friijUa, along with the juniper and varinus grasses. Twenty miles below old Fort (iood Hone, shales were observed '^''Pi'ei>r.incc the I'ight iiaidv, which are plainly different from those oci'urring far- '•'■'it'"- tliei' up the I'ivei'. They ai'e ilarl< i,neyish in colour, and I'alher soft, but enclose some hardei' beds, and pass in places into a shaiy saiulstone. Some ironstone is also j)resont. No determinable fossils were found hero, but the surface of some of the beds is coveiod in places with fragments of leaves and small carbonized stems of |)lants. 1 was at first somewhat doubtful in regani to the horizon of these shales, but evidence obtained afterwards proved them to belong to the Cretaceou-s. Eesting on the shales at this point is a layer of large Arcluisan boul- ders, well worn and thittened, above which comes the Saskatchewan sands and gravels. In the next fifteen miles the shales are exposed at a number of points, but proved to be remarkably destitute of fossils. A careful search was made at several favorable looking localities, but nothing was obtaineii except an almost unrecognizable fragment of an ammonite, which was found at the base of one of the sections. lielow the sections just referred to, an interval of fifteen or twenty miles occurs, in which the banks show only boulder-clay, underlain by Saskatchewan gravels, and then the shales rea])pear, and are exposed for many miles below. They are harder here than when first seen, and weather into steep cliffs, which line both banks of the valley, and for .some miles form a kind of wide cafion, which has received the name of the Lowei' Ramparts or the Narrows. At these Ramparts the valley makes a sudden horse-shoe-shaped L"w -r bend to the north of ten or twelve miles in length. The river is over half a mile wide at the narrowest point, and for most of the distance exceeds a mile in width. Thei'c is no sign of a rapid, and the current has nowhere a rate of over five miles an hour. The Cretaceous rocks at the Lower Ramparts are horizontal, and con- 15"oks at Lower sist of dark greyish shales passing into a shaly sandstone, along with more , heavily bedded bluish sandstones. The rocks are all somewhat ferruginous and weather to a rusty color. About two hundred feet is exposed. The sandstone holds numerous coaly particles disseminated irregularly through the beds, and in one or two instances by the addi- tion of whitish quartz pebbles, was observed to pass into a fine grained Kamparta. f^ 112 D i;EOI,OOICAL and N/.TCRAL history survey op CANADA. LoucIr'iix 111(111111$. Cliiiractcr of crew. Rciicli liead of delta. Charnoter of forest. (■t)iiglomorate. Tlie surfaccH of some of the hfnU aro covered vvith a iielwork of the impressions of narrow leaved plants, but nothing detoi- niiiiable was obtained. Ftuniy tiie liigii water when 1 pawsed through, as it was not noticed. immediately below I he Narrows we paHsed on the left the mouth of I!cd River, and seven miles farther down came to a large encampment of Louehciix. Thoso Indians have evidently encroached somewhat on the territory of the Kskimo since the days of the early travellers, as Richardson describes the Lower Ramparts as being the boundary at that time. The Loucdieiix have now a church north of that point, and have undisputed pos>ession of the river as far as I'oint Separation. I remained over night at the Indian cn<'ampment, and before leaving in the morning engaged one of the Luucheu.x to accompany us in the cajiacity of interpreter, in case we should fall in with the Eskimo. The Louclu'ux are on friendly terms with the Eskimo, and most of them can speak the Eskimo language. My crew waa now a somewhat heterogenous one, and consisted of a Slave Indian from Fort Siinpson, a Hare Indian from Fort Good Hope, and a Loucheux from the mouth of Red River. In order to communicate with the latter 1 had first to speak to the Fort Simpson Indian, who understood a little Engli.sh, and he passed it on with someditficulty to the Good Hope Indian, who in turn interpreted it in a more or less changed form to the Loucheux, and the answer was then returned in the same cumbrous manner. The dhilects of the various Tinneh tribes scattered along the Mackenzie ditl'er very markedly, and the Indians from the upper part of the river have consideral)le trouble in making themselves understood by those at the lower posts. Ten miles below the Indian encampment wo came to what may be considered the head of the delta of the Mackenzie. The Cretaceous shales and sandstones have disappeared, atid the banks, now composed of alluvial sands and clays, have decreased in height to fifteen or twenty feet, while the river, which at once opens out to more than ten times its former width, com]iletes its journey to the sea through u network of interlacing channels. Prom the head of the enlargement we took the left hand channel and followed it for ten or twelve miles to the mouth of Peel Rivoi'. The coast here is low and sandy, and is exposed to the full rigour of the arctic storms, and the general vegetation of the bordering plains is stunted and diminutive in appearance, but is relieved by the presence of a few large spruce trees^ which look like survivors from an ancient MCCONNELl.J I'KEI- HIVKIt. ii:: i> iinil more liixiiriiint forest. Snme of tlu-o trt'os havo a i,'irtli oj' over 8ix feet, ami are tall ami well -liapeil, while the averau'e .spnK.'e in Ihi.^ latitiiile does not exeoed six or seven inehes in diameter. Eofore reaching I'eid River we fell in with a small hand «>'' '•^'*'<''>»" {;>|j'i;;;„;''"' wlio were on their way to Fort .>[aei>hi'rsual, and that they had not visited the fori yet, and were consociuently .■'till on theii' i,'ood he- havionr. As soon as we eamo abreast ot the eneam|)menl a small licet of kyaks were laimehed and we werex.on surrounded by all the males of the party, but beyond a L,'eneral demand for tobaeeo they did not otfor to molost us in any way. The Maekenzic Kiver Eskimos, or a pail of them at least, spend a few Xmcs^-.n the days every hprini-; trading at Fort .Macphcrson, but with this exeoption. and the ehanee meeting with a few travellers, have had little inter- eourse with white men, and have not been affected by them 'o any noticeable extent. 'I'he torbidding and inhospitable eliaractcr of the country they inhabit, ha.-^ not prevented missionaries from endeavour- ing on one or two occasions to establish tliomselves among them, iiut the efforts of these hi've, up to the present, met with little success. The Mackenzie Kiver Eskimos, unlike their Indian neighbours, do not buy clothing from the ti'udcrs, and still dress in sealskins, trimmed when possible with the fur of the carcajou, in the mannei- described by the early travellers. Labrets are still worn in the cheeks, and loni;-, broad bladcd knives of their own manufacture cari'ied on all occasions naked in the bunds. Bows and arrows are still their ])rincipal weapons, but arc gradually being replaced by lifles and revolvers obtained in ti'ade to the west, fr(»m whalers. Pekl Kiver. We entered Peel Eiver shortly after noon on the 2:ird of .June, and KnierPecl ascended it the same day for eight oi' ten miles. Towards evening, '^'"'''• when preparing to camp, we were somewhat surprised to see a Peter- borough canoe shoot around a liend in the stream ahead and rapidly approach us. A moment td'terwards we were hailed by a membei' of Mr. Ogilvie's party, and had the pleasure of learning that that explorer was just behind. lie appeared in a second canoe in a few minutes, an i.EOI.oairAL AND NATIUAL HISTORV SUItVEV or c.WAI'A. liiv.T. laliti^f liiiiiMi'ir that till' liai('i'i|>ti()ti u| I lie ra|iiii cm-ioiit ot tlio Yiiki)ii,an'i llictlirtii'iilties.itliMiil- iii;,' its ascoiit (lid not sc/'\ »■ to lai^e my >|iir'it-. We scparaloil on the '-'."jtli. ami I (•ontiiiiU''l un uji liu- Poel. ainl ai • rivt'il at Fort .Macplierxm tin' same alti'nuion. I't'ol Rivt'r splits iijtbi'Ibrc ioiriin^ llio .Markon/.ic. ami eniors the l.ii- toi' tliroii^li SfVi-ral i hamii'ls. 'IV-ii miles aliovc il-< minitli llio vai'ioiis streams iinile, ami from this on, as tiir a» tlie loi't, it |pre>erves an CiirrLMii "t I'col averago wiijlii ol'f'our- or live hiimlreil yanU. The ciiiTent at the linie of my visit I'an at the rate of foiif mile> an liour. Tlie hanks ami hor- iloiinn' plains are low, and avq foi-ine I of alluvial sands and r|ay^. No M I'cel older rocdvs wen- seen until the hlull on whieli the jort is huilt was leaclieil. Here shales are exposed whieh are eviilenilyol Cretaecous a^e, altiiouifli no fossiU were found. 'I'he«e shale- aic dark in eoloiU'. I'uthor solt, ami erumlile away iind tiip is !,M\en in the j)rocfedin:^'- of ihe leiyal (ieoi;rapliieal .Soeiety,-*^ hy .Mr. Ishistei-. Aecordin.n' to ihi- aceouiii the river winds alonii: the iiase of the mountain tliroui;h a low alluvial eounfy for thirty mile- ahovo tiie fort. A rapid wa- then en the liriiof it ('..nlimiity nf atloiti^ of the foiiiiiiiiity of tin' Jiocky .M.intilJiitis iiDrlliwaril-. Tlii- MMinlniin'. ningi' irt I().hI sight ol in (It'scciKiiiig tiic Mackoti/ii' lu-ar ilir Saii> Saiilt i;a|iilfi'ly t'oiii-f thniiinli ihc centic of Alaska. TIhm'o i- litllo doiilit, howfver, that with the exception nf tho gap thi'oiiL;li wliieii the Liai'd flo\v> this laiigo is continuoiis tiom the Iniernatiunal IJoundai'y to ilic shores of the Aictie ocean. l;\T UlVKU. f'oi'l .Mai'|iliei'son was reatdied on the 'J5th of .Iiuie, and as tiie Mac- Ui'.icli F.>rt keii/.ie sieiuner from which I ex|K'ctcil to ohtain siipitlies was not ex' '"'"■' pei'ted down until tlic intli of July, a -IjoiI trip w;is made up Kat K'iver while awaiting its arrival. At the fort I was informed that nuilher I'oats nor canoe> coidil he ohiained west of the mountains, hut that the hoal I had u>cd on the Mackenzie might lie portaged across hy taking it up Kat li'ivci' and 1 hen I ln'oiinji the .Macl)iMigal pa>- to i'.ell l«'i\ci' on ihe other -ide. Tin- |il:in wa- ado|>led, and live Indians were sent to try to take il across. Tluy made the piu'tagc in seven days. Ii'al Iiivei' is icpi'oented in Ishistcr's nia]i of Peel Jliver. puMi^hcd Km Hivur. in Is l."). in llic jnunial llicm. This error wa.-; prohalily eau'-ed hy ihe same name heing u-ed hy the Indians tu designate the two streams flowing east and west from the summit ot the range. \lu{ River (east i di-charucs its w;i!ei's hy two mouths. The north brancdi om]»ties into one ot'the ilelta stream.-- of the Mackenzie, and has not yt-t been explored, while the south liraneh joins Peel Eivcrahoul nine miles helowFort Macpherson. When Pool Eiver is in flood the current in the south hianeh isi'oversed. Eat IJiver for some miles above its mouth, wind> ilimugh a flat alluvial plain, forming part of the Pcel-.Mackenzie delta. Its width i.s about fifty yards, and the cui'rcnt is uniform and easy. Above this reach it enters a lake region, and for several miles connect* by short channels a number of small irregular-shaped willow-fringed lakes lying in shallow depressions in the delta. West of the lake region the de- clivity of the stream rapidly increases, and a i'ow hours hard paddling brought us to the foot of a series of strong rapids which mark the be- ginning of the ascent toward- the mountains. Leaving our canoe hero Leave oanoo. we tramped eight mile.- across a marshy plain to the foot of the first range, our objective jioint. For part of the way we travelled along r*^'^ in; I) (lEi'I.iM.ir.M, AM) NATOnAI, IMSTOUV SfRVKV OK TANAHA. (iei)lMgy if ciiftcrii raiii/i' uf Kijckit'i>. tilt' tiipiil'ii low iiiiiiow i'itl;;i', wliicli is proliahly of iiioriiiiiif nfiirin, :iiiil i> cniniiii^i'd. -(» liir us 1 cu'ild Irai ii linm llic siiil'aio, arly iinrtli ami ^oiitli tu'iul, arnl liscs to an eluvalinti ol' aliiMit L',>"" '•"'■'• I' i"< ''"'I' lliiniiL'liniil ill cvoiilv lii'iMi'(| jiaid samlstonos ami tjuart/iU's, (lipiiiii^ to tlii' east a( an aiiiiU' oC about HO . No t'oswils weic fouiul ill rocks //< situ, luit in llio wasii nf Lon^-stick ('reok, a ti'iluitarv of Kal IJivcr, whifli iloccinls tVoni ilic same raiiir«' inwl was crossed mi tlic way, Aininonitcs and oilier tiis>il- ol' ('iciaccoiis age wore found. Tlie>e occur in angular sanil-tone tilo(dummit of which the barometer register- ed a height of twelve hundred feet above the river at the furt. At this Leave Fint Maephfrsun, Torrncesnt bn8c nf mountair,;. MCCONNIU.] TEKl. UI\KH I'kUTAUK. 117 1' tho eli'vatidii tho fm-o-t Iuh foa-t"l, ainl llio sliriili- whicli "crui' -" jiImiii cliiiitly on till' tii>.t Ifi-rai'f liavf aliimsi ilisapiifiiicii. aiwl aro nnly ro- |ii'Of*otitt'il l(V ail 111 rusiutinl biiiniivl s|pfciiin'ii nf iln- arctic \\ill"\v {S.'i'-^tirc). A small larch ( l.iirlr Awcrfiimi) Klill ^lll•vives, hiii l.aivly attains a hci^'iii <>t' six ^i' ciirlil f»'''t aii'i a ni liio scciiM'l -lii|ic a w ido |>laiii rcaihc-. \vc>tsviinl- to the moiiii- taiii'. 'I'h.' waiUiiii,' hoie i> oxcccliii-ly 'lilliciili. a- iIm' Mirla.'c i' !,'£';. <'()vcrcil Willi tiio rouii'loil i,'ra>-y iiioro ali"vc 111'' C'layoy snii, an.! aro ihc <'aiiM' of coiistaiii -iiiinhlin^ which I'oninu's Mimcwhat cxa>j»oratiii;,' when mio i- wci^'htcd dnwii with a pack. An attcm])t to wall; on tho top ol' iho moaiuls soon hecomo- oxco-.-.ivcly tiitigiiin^ on account of tho inr^nihu- h'iii,'lh of the wt rides, and a rtliy;ht inirtcali'iilalii>n a> to distanco |)roci|)itatc- lh>' imliKdcy traveller down inio the nuiddv dojiths hotwoon. Whoii down, tho re-nlvo i^ ii>ually made, and a Ihorod to tor awhile, to keep to iho lowei- lovols. hill the cllorl roiiiiirod to slop ovor tho iiilorvoniiii; hillncks pro>onts oiivious (li-advanta,i;o> nf !i (litlereni kind. A wa'k of live hours, at tho rate of ahoiit a inilo and adialf an hour. .M„untiiiii iiiouu-ht u> to a deep valley ocoiipiod l)yaswift mountain stream, which ■""""• wo forded, ami then oampoliee]) which one of them oiisorved on a ledge above, Tho hunt was succossful, and tho victim pi'oved to bo the in- teresting On'.'i Montiini, var. DdlU. This animal ivsomldos tho bighorn of the Eocky Mountains to tho south in form, Inil is much smaller, weighing scarcely a hundred jiounds, and it.s hair, instead of being tawny, is almost a pure white. Tho change in coioi- and size toward.s tho north is evidently a grailual one, as the saihllo-baidvO 1 shoe]) of the upper Yukon ])resent8 characters intermediate between the two extreme varieties!. At the ''CJap" the i)ass through tho mountains is eight to ton miles iu width, but gradually contracts as wo advance, and at oui' second camp, six miles from the mouth, was reduced to about two miles. Tho on- unt. 1^ m 118 U (iEOLoGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY CP CANADA. I Character (if olo>ing mountains are I'cgulai' in outline and somewhat tame in ap- mouiituiiii^. AVide Viillcy , Elevation I'l watcr-shuil. High tublchtliil. peai'aiice, and rine to elevations above the vall-^y iVom one thousand to two tliousand tive hundred feet. The bottom of the valley and the l crossed the watershed between theMtickenzieand the Yukon and commenced our descent to the latter. The watershed has an elevation measuicd bj- the barometer of 2,GU0 feet above the sttirting point on Peel River, or about 2,(!,5() tibove the sea, while the neighbor- ing mountiiins rise about a thou>and feet higher. Two miles west of the watershed the mounttiins turn sutUlenly to the north, and the westward-tlowiiig stream which we were follow- ing, 'plunges down a steep decline of fully 1,2(10 feet. A.t the btise of this declivity it is Joined by ii large tributary from the south, which swells it to a snndl river. At the continence of the two streams is a large tlat covered with smtill groves of the white spruce ( Picia Alba.') The elevation hero is over ti thousand feet higher than the jioint at which this tree dis;ipi)eared on the eastern side of the range. From the foot of the mountains a high tableland, swelling occasion- ally into con^itleraiile eminences, stretches to the weslwarti. Through this plateau the branch of l?ell River, down which the trail lejuls, has cut ii wild and gloomy chasm lully a thousiind feel deep. The walls of thecai~ion are formed of tlat-lyingsandsttuiestind hard (|U!irtzites, and are ntiked and precipitous above, but fall away in easier slopes be- low. The bottom of the valle}* is generally soft iind marshy, luit htird gravelly terraces, affording good walking, are occasioiuilly crosseit. .Seven miles from the head of the cation ti large stream com<'s in from the riglit, and two miles and ti half farther on, a second and more im- MCCONNE.L.J PEEL RIVER rORTAOE. 110 1. potuonsonc i-oui's iiuothe miiin simim from tho >ame .lirection. Aftor crossing the latter wo e:impoa on >omo tii-m ground on the farthei- skle. On the 13th we oontinucil our way down tlio canon. Three miles from eump tlie river washes up against the walls on the right hand side, and the trail, whieh has hitherto followed the right bank, crossed over to the left. The ford is a difficult one, as the stream is here deei. and rapid, and its channel is pavcl with treacherous. luart/.ite boulders. The greatest caution is necessary in crossing, as a stumble o,- false step Mo,h3 of would almost certainly be fatal to one encumbered witii a heavy pack. .trean«. In fording the.sc swift mountain torrents, it is customary to ado[)t a communistic plan. The j'arty line up behind a long pole, and keeping a tirm hold of it advance into tho stream abreast. In this ease the person above sustains the tuU brunt of the current, but i.> held up by those below. an. and its higher peaks were estimated to reach an altitude of 2,500 f.'Ot above the level of the pass o. about 4 000 feet above the sea. Tbo western range i^ much narrower and north of the pass does not exceed four miles in width, but spreads out somewhat more towards the south. Tlie valley of I'oel Hiver whirl, skirts the eastern base of the range is fully l.liOOfeet lower than the valley. d' Rat River on the western side, and the dram- a-'o of tho mountains is mo-tly t..wards the former. '"Thc<'eolo.ncal secthm ol>tained is somewhat imperfect, as our scanty 120 D GEOLO(;lCAL AND NATURAI, HISTORY StRVEY OF CANADA. (icologieal section. Fo?sils. No limc^lnncs or.-'cliistsiii mountains. supplies allowed i)f no delay, bill sutlicient was Icaiiit to show that the range has on the whole an antielinal structure, allhouLjh tlio gene- ra! anticline is obscured in jdaces by subordinate folds, and is ])robably broken iiy faults. In the eastern ])lateau the beds are nearly horizon- tal, but a|iproaching the mountains they incline greatly to the east- wards, and in the ceiiti'e of tlie eastern range have dips of from IjO" lu 70° in the same direction. In the western range the same dip prevails, but tbe inclination is mucli lcs>, and the lieds flatten out when the mountain- are rejtiaced by the elevated western plateau. 'I'he horizon- tal attitude is laainiaiiu'd for some miles, but before reaeliing the west- ern edge of tlie plateau the beils bend down anandstone.-. i|Uart/.ites and shales, all of wbit'li are ]irobalily vo- ferrable to the Ci'etaceous. At the starting j)oint on Peel J^iver the banks are formed of shales, intcrbedded with some bard sandstones hold- ing carbonized fragments of wood and leaves. In the first fourteen miles the beils aie con<-ealed, but shales and sandstones are again ex- jMi.sed on the baidis of the valley in which we made our first camp. Some fossils weie collected here, among which is a Disri7ui. like D. jiilt'olus. Whiteaves. a Mactra and a Yoldia. both of wiuch are pro- l.iably new. but tbe sjiecimens are too imperfectly ])reserved to admit of specitic determination. Six miles farther west, at the entrance to the '"Gap," the trail pas>e8 over betis of a bluish, rather comjiact calcareous sandstone. The beds are coated in ])laces with calo-s])ar, are highly ferruginous, and weather to a rust\- yellow. A Ciin/imn ami some other pooi-ly pi'eserved fossils were obtained here. In the valley of the river tbe'.-aiulstones are underlain by dark shales. After enter- ing the mountains, only alternating sandstones and quart/.itcs were seen. The beds of this series are greyisii in colour, arc evenly strati- tied and are very uniform in ajipearance all across the range. They have an estimated minimum thickness of o.OOn feet, anil may possibly greatly exceeil this. The we>tern plateau is built of compact greyish sandstones, passing in places into iiuartzites, >imilar to those found in the mountains and evidentl3' bidongingto the same formation. Hoth Ir-bister and Petitot mention limestone, schists, and gi'anitos, as being timnd in this scmion of the mountains, but these rocks were not seen in the section examined by mo, ....]• were ]icbbles derived from them found in the wash of any of the streams which we crossed. In the valle}' of the Mackenzie, however, the Devoinan limestones imme- diately underlie the sandstones and shales of the Cretaceous, and it is highly ])idbable that in jiartsof the range the disturbance has been>«fH- eient to bring these to the surface. WCCONNELL ] HELL RIVER. IJl I) On arriviim' at Roll River we crds-cd nvor to L:i])ierri' noii>e. wliieli Liipiorre is situated on a tlut on the western side, Imt found tlie post desertO'l liy all l>ut nidians, the otHcer in ehai's the mountains by the McDougal l"-"^^) 'I'^r^^iif^^ff^^ije I was glad to find had reached it> destination in good ordei-. and no t'oroupine. time was lost in pi'e])aring for the descent of Bell Jiiver and the lAn-- cu])ino. My cri'W down these rivers consisted, l>esides myself, of one man, an Orkneyman and ex-employO of the Hudson's I '.ay Company named Skee. whom 1 met at Fori .Marphei>on on his way out n!' the country, and was fortunately able td induce to come with me and go out by way of the Yukon. The upper part of Bell Kivcr ha- n^t been exphued. At the fort it Clmract^er^of is a small sluggi-h stream of f.'ity to titty yar.ls in width, and a cur- rent of less than two miles an hour. The banks are low and alluvial. and the bor Icring region is covered with willows, birch, aspen and spruce belonging to the same species as those noticed east of the moun- tains. 35elow Lapierro IIou>e Bell Eiver runs a few degrees ea-t of .south for seven or eight miles, and then iiending to the >outh-west flows by Sinclair's Eock with a somewhat icceK-rated current, and con- tinues on in the same direction to Stony Eivcr, a >tream nearly e^ual in >i/.e to itself Fr..m Stony liiver its course i- n(jrth-west or ncaily opposite to its direction in the first i-eacb. tor seven or eight miles, and then it bends gradually around to the south-west, and keeps this course until it emi.tie- into the Porcupine. Its lengtii from Lapierie Hou-e to its mouth is a'oout thirty miles. Be-ides Stony River, which come- in from the left, it ivceivo a sh. and coar.so arenaceous shales are uncovered, which probably rcpre-ent an fwr 122 I) CEOLOOICAI- AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY OK CANAHV. extenbiou of the ■same beds tlial in the inoiintains are hardened inti> ([uartzitcs. The shales are unevenly bedded, and under the influcneo of tlio weather orumbie into a talus of sharp, angular fragments. For some miles below Sinclair's Rock the i)anlon and others, but it was not personally vi>ited 1iy any of the numerous travellers who have written of the .Mackenzie antl the Yukon, although it has been used by the Hudson's Bay Company as a trade route since IS-IT, and its navigation presents no s])ecial ditliculty. The roreu})ine heads within thirty miles ofthe Pclly-Vukon. ap|iroxi- mately in latitude (j5°.30' X., and after describing a great semi- circular curve to the nortlu'ast. falls into the same rivei' a hundietl and lifty miles farther down. At its most easterly point it approaches within eighty miles ofthe Mackenzie, but is separated from it by the main range of the Rocky Mountains. Its total length ap])roximates to five hundred miles. Exrlnrntinniif The upjicr part ofthe Porcu|)ine was explored b}' Mr. Ogilvie in llie earlv part ot the present -uminei'. Ogilvie reacheil the beau ol tiie river bv a winter traverse from the Pelly-iukon, and descended it as Porcupine Kivcr. ] BELL RIVER TO KRlFTWOoD HIVER. 12:; D and far as the moiuh of Bi'll River. An account of this part of the river will l>e found in his rcjiort. The i)rcsent description treats of the part hciow Bell liiver. From Bell liiver to Driftwood River, a .li>tance ..f about thirty n^''<>^c;'f,?j;!«j;;'4e. in a straight line, hut over fortj' by the course of the river, the Porcu- pine has a general north-westerly trend, but makes a couple of minor <^ bends to the north-east. ltswi>t' the banks are covcivd with a steep talus of this material. The diji here is nearly cast, and the rocks exiio>ed have a thickness ot' l>elween three and four thousand feet. The sandstone scries is sucreeded and underlain by dark shales in- Simle.^cncs. terbedded with ironstone. The shales havi' a light easterly dip, and an approxinmte thickness of eight hundred teet. They yielded some fos- sils, among which is a very large belemnite, a tinely ribbed ventricose scapbitc, which has some resemblance to Srcipliiti.i rodri^^osHS, and a j)ceuliar amraoiutoid -hell, which shows a ribbed cent ral portion, while the outer whorl is ([uite smooth. Mr. Whiteaves states that the f)s- sils are probably B.'nton, but the specimens are too impeiTcct to make the correlation certain. The shides are exposed for about a mile, and aie then replaced by shales, haul ^haly sanilstones and quartzitcs, interstratitied with occa- sional conglomeritic beds. The sandstones arc often somewhat green- w 124 D (iKOLOOICAl, AND NATCR.VL lllbTDUY SUllVEY OF CAN'AHA. AuocUii lioil.-'. r?" :f Sandstone, isli Oil a fVcsli fractiirc, Imt woatlici' to :i yellowish or I'Ur^fy colour, conglomerate Tlie.sc bctls arc broiii^'iit ui) liv u ii^ eastorlv liip from lioiieatli the series. ,, , .' '" n ' i- n •! slialcrt, aim occui' in Irciiuoiil i-xposuro-* for a (listame oi two miles. Thoy have a miiiiiniun thickiie» of two thousaml feet, Some nf the shaly saridstoiicsot'iliis series are t'ossilifi'roiis atforiliiiLf IlllllU'l•oll>^ipoci- inerisofaii Oatrea, along with a Pi'i'ten, a Rhijacliont'Ud anil an ap- .♦"jjarontly iindo-icrihe*! species of Pt'i'la. These fossils do n')t alVoriliferous, and some of the beds are covered with casts of AarcUa mos'/uensis var. concfntrira. the characteristic fossil of the (^iicen Charhjtte Islands for- mation. This formation occurs in British Columbia, at the base of the Cretaceous, and has iiccn referred ly Mr. Whiteaves. on f)ssil evidence, to a position immediately ludow the Dakotti, a reference which is a]ii)arently juslitied by the facts detailed in the section just described. Below the ])oint on the river at which the Aucellabeds are expi)sed, the section becomes so confuseil and is interrupted by so many ou- cealei intervals, that it wa- found imj)Ossible to folio ,• closely the sequence of the terranes. A mile and a halt' below the Aucella beds, vellowish-weathering .shales and s;indstones are exposed, which probably belong to the .same Cliangeot" iiip. •''Ories. The easterly di[), which li;is been maintained for so long, changes here, and the inclination of the lieds becnmes more variable, and is not infreijuently to the west. The sandstones are followed after an interval of three miles by bhudc bituminous looking shales, the re- lations of which are somewhat obscure, and these l>y a hard conglom- erate, the di]) of which is to the south. Five miles farther down ferruginous rusty-weathering shales, striking nearly east tind west, and dipping u|) stream, are again ex]ioseil. The beds lirst seen are very fissile, and are lighter coloured than is nsuuU}' the case, hut are under- lain by a black carbonaceous variety resembling the Devonian shale> seen along the (rrand View on the Mackenzie. Fragments of a bracdiiopod shell were collected here, but the s]iocimens are too inde- finite for determination. V\AI«A. • rusty colour. 1 l)Oiieatli tho of two milos. .Some of llio iiuorousspoci- a ;uul an a])- (lo not allonl liiit are not at tratigra])liioal lile oecui's ill ,Min cx])030il, liuiul side of 'ctioii lias ovi- oyisli variety, s fos>ilit'oi'ous, 'lOS'/iit'Hsis var. to Lslands for- t the bane of vor<, on f)ssil , a roforence II? section just ai'e exposc'l, ;o many con- ' closely the ih-weatherinii; ^ to the same , for so lon^'. loi'G variable, foUowoii after lales, the re- arJ conglom- iirther down and west, and Lien are very )ut are undor- ■onian shale> gments of a are too inde- M.coNNEu.] niUFTWool, KIVKIl TO TlIK IlKAI. oF TIIK RAMI'AliTS. 12r) D The shale-< are underlain ly a K''^'^' thicdcnes. ot y^-'''''^^'''^''-''''''''''^^'' V'^Xnen.,. coarse-texiured coniilomerate, oecnrrin- iii massive bed> and lymi; m an almost horizontal ix.Mtion. The pebbles of this conj^lomcrate, be- sides the u>ual (,uartzose and slate varieties, inrlude boulders of lime- stone often exceedin,:,^ a foot in diameter. A hiijh ran-v ol bills, whieh follows the left bank of the valley for nime miles, is evidently built of this lock. The eonijlomerate Is succeede.l by soft blui>hdookin,i;- shales, but the lUui-l, .li.U-. junetion of the two btrmations was not observed. The ^hale- after a short interval, are eoneealed, but reappear lour miles fartl.or down, and are replaced .-hoitly atterward> by the conglomerate with which ii:ey are associated. The latter evidently constitute the local baso of the'Cretaccous, as thev are underlaid by liard bluish unfossiliferous dolomites dipping at high angles, whieh have a decided I'aheo/.oie ap- 1'''"""-'- pearanee. Below thedidomites the -eetion is again interrupted for a short dis- tance, and tho next exposures show.sofi. bluish, lightly undulaiing shales, similar to those seen farther up. The shales are inters! ratified with some harder ealcareous strata, the surfaces of which are occasion- ally blackened with carboni'.ed fragments of leaves. The shales form the banks asiar as Uriflwood Elver and beyond. The section obtained in the reaeh of the Porcupine between ti.es..mmary uf mouth of the Bell Eiver and the Driftwood may be summarized as con- sisting in descending order of three or four thcusand feet of barren quartzites and sandstone, a band of dark shales, probably of Benton age, and a great series of sandstone shales and conglomerates, characterized by boitling Aucella mosquensis var. cncentrica, the baso of which was not determined. The conglomerates and shales Avhich alternate with one another in the lower part of tho reach, may possibly represent in a somewhat modilied condition, the two lower divisions just enumerated, but their relations were not detinitely as.ertained. They form the base of the Cretaceous, as PalaM)/oic limestone rises from beneath them in the higher undulations. Driftwood Ki\f,r to the Head of the Ramfarts. Below Driftwood River the P.-rcupine makes a sudden bend of seve- Cl/^^ra^^tcr^o ral miles to the north, and then turning to the we>t it follows a gene-i-;!/;."^^^^ ral bearing of about 15° south of west to tho head of the Rami)arts. Kher. Tho distance between these two points, measured in a straight line, is about lifly miles, but measure(l along the tortuous course of tho river, exceeds seveuly-tive miles. The river in this reach has a width of from two to three hundred yards. Xo rapids were met with, and the wr-:. 126 I) • iEMI.uulCAI, AND NATL'KAI. HISTdllV SI KVEV OF CANADA. OcolciKicul section. Recent disturbance. current iloes not averagi- over two milo.s an hour. Alluvial i>lanils occur at loni; intervals, unci sand and yravul bai'.s are more nunioi'Ous than in the U|i|n'r part. The valley varie^ fVoni or\o tutwo hunilrod f'oct in depth, anil oecasionally expands to over three miles in width, and in such cases enchi-es lai^c wooded tiats. The volume of the Por- cupine is swelled in this reach b\" tW() considerable tributaries, be- sides a number of smaller streams. Old Crow Rivei' enters it from the north about half way down, and Blue dish River fi'om the south a few miles above the head uti'i>lii. ii"d the ioiiitaii;o ]ilane- are occa- hiiiizontal .sionally lined with a tiiin tilm of a pinkisli mineral, the identily of ' '' ''' wiiicli has iiol hren made out. liroken eoaly ])articies form a ronsti- tuent of the shale- iu some phicos, but no lij^nito heds were seen. Limestone oonei'etions, ranj,nny' in size up to six. feet in iliainetcr. and either arranijed in lines or seattercd irre^ujnlarlv thi-ou-h the -hale-, aie ahiiiidant in some nf the seelion-, and lioM fra_i,niiont- of hones and ])ioees of the te.-t and occasionally entire specimens of a large fii'icrntiniis. The recent deposits overlyinii,- the shales consist of alluvial silts, sands, clav- and gravels, and no houlder clay- i>v o'lier hcds I'td'erahle to the glacial period aie -cen aftei' leaving the Mackenzie. Half a nule aht)ve Kishing Kiver, the dark ( 'retaeeous shales ai'e ovei'hiin uncomlornialily hy soft, scarceh' stratified, whitish and yel- lowish olavs and sands. .\m lli-sils were found in thi'sc heds. hul they evidently represent -onic hoi'izon in the Terliai'y, and ihi'ii' straligra- Tcrtinry lid?, iihieal relations would correlate them with the iiear Jfivcr Tcitiary t)eils of tlie Mackenzie. which have heen referri'd hy Sir William Itawson. on the evidence ol' their tloi'a. to the I,aramie. 'J'wo miles helow the first exposure. Tertiary hed- arc again shown in a scarped hank on the lefldiand side of the livcr. They consist hero of yellowish ami whitish sands and sand-loncs, interbo Ided with a gi'eyish, rather har brought up here by the same disturbance to which the Old Crow Mountains, which are directly opposite, owe their existence. 01,1 Oow Mouiiliiinf. lie-enter Tertiary li: 12^ li i;En|.ni,|( Al, AMi NATfllAI, IIISTUUY Sl'RVEV (iF CANAHA. Tlic Old Cruw .M()Uiil;iiii> weio not i-xamiin'il closclv. tuit ilu'v ap- pi'jif to Ijoloiiu; to the !.aino i«y:[iie'lvi.'ii/.ie. Tlic lower slopes of the itin^'o siiow dark sliiiles lit' Ci'ftaetiiiis ;ii,'e, while the higher jteaks, jiidn'inu' hy the wash in the sii-eiins wiiieii h and iianks rise steeply from tho water's etlge on viIm"""'"" both sides to heights of from three to five hundred feet, and their green slopes are everywhere bi'oken by shattered pinnacles and bold crags and cliffs of brilliantly tinted dolomites and quartzites standing almost on edge. As we descend tho enclosing walls become higher and steeper, and tho lighter shades are replaced by moi-o sombre colours. Some miles above Rapid River a liand of basalt edged with vertical cliffs, api)0ars above, and gradually descends in the banks of tho canon until it I'oaches tho bottom, and from this on the gorge is Uanj of i.Hsait. bounded by even, precipitous walls carved out of this rock. The uni- formity of this i)art of the valley is interrupted at intervals by deep gashes cut by tributary streams through the basaltic covering. Of these the principal one is Rapid River, which enters the Porcupine about seven miles above tho ])0st. A mile below Rapid River is the half-way pillar, a projecting Column of rock, which was supi)Osed by the traders to be equidistant from Lapierre House and Fort Vukon. Tho geology of the Ramparts proved to be too complicated to be un- ravelled in the few hours which I was able to devote to it, and can only be indicated in a general way. At the head of the Rampai'ts the soft unconsolidated Tertiary strata are underlain, as above stated, by a ditlerent and much older series. The beds first seen consist (jf greyish granular dolomites, interstratitieil with a close textured, very compact variety of the same rock, strikinir nearlv 9 > ^ :> 130 It (JEOI.OOICAI, AND NATCRAI- IIIMTORV SURVEY OF CANADA. Hooka ill Kiimpitrli. Viiriod colonriition north and south, ami dippiii;,' to tlie wnM at an nii^U- of .'i.')'. Farther down tlio dnioiniti's aio aMHociatod with litnostonos, (|uarty,it08 and a hand of (hirk calcaivons slialos. Tho I'ocks liavo all been sidjjtM'tod to connidcrahlo fi'iisiiini,', due to volcanic actinn, and in>onio instances have boon so shattt'i-cd tliat they crumble coinplotoly umloi' the intlu- oncc of tlio weather oi' when struck with the hainmor. The mM«T norsE TO THE MODTir OK TUE I'nlnrPINE. l.'M I> thia it uiiilulati'H at l.iw anglos along iho valley, ami oceartionally lisos suHii-ioiilIy U> oxposo tlio uiulurlying HJiaiosi, (luartzito-, ddlotnilOH ami limo>toiios. Tho i);i8all hhow.s no evidoiil (•(jlunuiar strui'lurt', A woll inaiUod horizontal divisional piano was Iracod for Homo diftianct'. and may po.s- sllily indicate tliojunotion of two flows, as slight dilfoi'i-ncos in colora- tion woi-o nntodaliovoanil liolow it. In toxliirc llioKasalt i'aiii;o> frnni lin.' grained to a niddcraloly granidar condition, hut also Kccoine^ vesicular in i)lacos, and pas.-os into an ani^-gihiloid. It is compMso to work in ib.e night latlier iKan in the day, during the peiiod of six weeks or so in which the sun remains above the horizon. The li<>ht is sutttcieiit, while the temperature is sotnewhat lowei'. ami tlio mos- quitoes aro less troublesome. Rampart llouse is the most (li>tanl of the llud.son Hay Company's posts, and was establivhed to re])laco Foi-i Yukon, aitor tho site of the latter had l»een determined to bo in Alaskan territory. This ])ost was originally situated twelve miles farther down the river, but the posi- tion of tho buildings in I'Ogard to tho boundary being doubtful, those were burnt by the Hudson's Bay Company, and new buildings were erected on tho present site. As a fur post it b;iroIy pays oxjiensos, owing to the heavy cost incurred in tho transportation of furs and goods, and is kept uj) mainly as a protection against tho encroach- inents of trailers fiom tho west. The Indian hunters trading at Rampart House number about eighty. Tiiey belong to thoLoucheux branch of tho Tiimoh family, but speak a slightly ditlerent dialect from that used by the Mackenzie River Lou- Hoacli ll.iiui.art II.IIISI-. Tnivi'l liv Mi«ht. Katiipnrt 132 D GEOLOGICAL AND NATIRAI. HISTORY SIRVEY OF CANADA. '.•;• ii Indians at Rampart Uuuse ArranKcmeiit- for trip. Rocks below basalt. Wide KFiivel flat. Tertiiiry rook?. Width (.r Tertiary basin, f'heux. Thov are Christianizeil, and missionaries sent out by the Cliurch Missionary Society liave boon working among them for some years. A small church has been built in the vicinity of the post. I remtiiiied a tew hours at Rampart House for the purpose of tiiking an observation fui' latitude, ami making arrangements for the trip to Fort Vnkon. An Intlian w;is engaged to accompar.y ht^, and 1 wii.s fortu- nately able to obtain a supply of dried meat from ^fr. Firth, the officer in charge of the post. A report h;id reached the fort that a steamer belonging to the Alaska Fur Company would pass Fort Yukon on its way to Forty Mile f'redk, in a few da^-s, and I decided, as we would now traverse Alaskan Territory, and had no object for delay, to hurry down to the forks as fast as jiossible ;ind endeavour to secure n pas- sage on the steamer up the Yukon as far as the Canaditin boundary'. We descended the river, battling against a strong head wind the whole way, ill three days, but loarnetl on oui" arrival, much to our dis- aj)pointment, that the boat h:id already pa.ssed. The distance from Rampart House to the mouth of the Poi'cupine, measured in a straight line, is about one hundred miles, but is fully one hundred antl fifty by 'he course of the rivei\ The general direction is aboutS. i!0° \V. The current isuni'"or..i, with few ritlles and no rapids, and has a i average rate of about three miles an hour. The Ramparts continue for two miles below the fort, and present th© same features which characterize them above. Opposite the fort, the basidt sheet rises again, and alternating bands of shales, slates, lime- stones, dolo:nites ami qumrtzites, with in one place a white clitf of coarsely crystalline calcspar, are seen beneath. Eight miles farther down, it sinks beneath the surface, and massive walls of basalt and amygdttloid then border the river as fa" as IIowling-Dog-Rock, at the foot of the Raniptirts. Below IIowling-I)og-Rock, the river intersects for some miles a wide gravel flat, the former site of the fort, and then bends away to the north. An exposure here of clan's, greyish and yellowish sands and soft pebbly conglomerate, shows that the river has entered a second Tertiary' basin. The rocks are all very soft, and are similar iu aj)pear- ance to those occurring tibove the K'amparts. No fossils were obtained from them. .Sections of unconsolidated Tertiary strata are exposed again at the e.Ktromity of the bend, and at several points in the next five miles, tiiid are then replaced by shales and slates ot an older series. They are overlain by recent silts, sands ami gravels. The width ot the Tertiary basin tdong the river does not exceed seven miles, but it is highly improbtible that this represents its full MCCONNELL ] KAMPAUT HOUSE TO TK" MOUTH OF THE PORCUI'INE. 133 D size, and the appeai-auce of the flat country to the north woiiM seem to bhow that it extends for a considerable distance iti that direc- tion. The shales and slates which succeed the Tertiary aro overlain in the course of a mile by basalt. Tlio basalt is exposed for a short distance Exp.isuroof on the left hand banlc, and probably represents a jtmioctinir spur from '''^•"'* the main sheet. It was not scon again. Two miles below the basalt siliferous. but from their position are probably Cretaceous. They are exposed at in- tervals for two miles, and are th^n overlain uncontbrmably by the yel- lowish and light reddish cla^-s and sands of the Tertiary, and the lat- ter in turn sinks in a short distance, beneath alluvial sands, clays and gravels. From this point on to the month of the river, a distance in a direct line of sixty miles, no further exposures of the older rocks are seen. The valley disappears, and the river serpentines through a wide plain, ^^'"'"^ '''*'"' elevated only a few feet above its surface. At the elbows of the nume- rous bends the cut banks show sra.all sections of clays ami false-bedded sands and gravels, either alluvial or lacusti'al in their origin. The bordeiing plains extend to the horizon on either side, unbroken by a single elevation, and their extent and uniformity taken in connection with the character of the beds seen along the valley atford sti'ong grounds for the assumption that a lake basin or abnormal expansion of the river once existeil here and has since been silted uj). The principal streams which the Porcuijine receives ifi this part of Triimt.mes of its lourse are the Salmon from the right, and Black Eiver and Little Black River from tiie lef\ For some miles above its mouth it divides around numerous islands, and branching channels become so frequent that care has to be exercised to select the right one. Before reaching the Yukon wo left the main stream, and turning to the left entered a .small channel which is reported to flow in oppo..«ite directions, depeiid- 134 D GEOLOGICAL AND NATl'RAL HISTORY SURVEY OP CANADA. ing on the relative heights of the water in the two rivers. Our hopes that the current would .set in our favour wei'e doomed to disappoint- ment, as we no sooner "ounded the l)ond than we passed from the brown water of the -upine into the milky flood of the Yukon, and found ourselves str ing ugainst an impetuous current of five or six miles an hour. Fort lukoii is situated a mile and a half above the con- fluence of the two streams, and it requii'ed nearly two hours of hard work to a.-cend tliat distance. I ! Routes to the coast. Early cxpUiratidii. Old Fort Yukon to Fokty Mile Cueek. At Fort Yukon I had the pleasui-e of meeting the Eev. Mi'. Canahan, of the Church Missionary Society, who was on his way to Mekluka hyet to take charge of a mission. Mr. Canahan's news was far from cheering, as he informed us that the steamer which we expected to meet had ])assed up thi' day heforo. Two coursi's were now ojien tons in ordei- to reach "the coast and outside communication; either to descend the river to St. Michaels and sail from that point to Victoria or San Francisco, or to face the nine hundi'cd miles or so of rapid current and difficult navigation above, and ascend it to the head of the Lewes, and then cross the Coast Eange by the Chilkoot Pass. The former is by far the easier route, as the lower Yukon possesses a strong steady current, and is fi-ee from dangerous rapids, and the temptation to adopt it was almost irresistible, but as it lay altogether outside of Canadian territory I decided, if possible, to try and ascend the stream. To do this, however, promised to be a mat- ter of no ordinary difficulty. The short, sijuare-sterned boat which I had hitherto used, wa> built to cany a load down stream and was altogether unsuitable to make an up-stream journey in, and an attempt to force it for hundreds of miles against a five or six mile an hour cur- rent seemed well nigh hopeless, but no other was available. Our pro- visions were also running shoi-t, but Mi'. Canahan kindly sup})lied our deficiencies in this respect to some extent, and we expected to be able to obtain fish from the Indians along the river. Tiader John, the In dian who piloted us down from Rampart House, and had proved him self a capable and willing fellow, was induced, after some ]iersuasion, to accompany us as far as Forty Mile Creek, and on the 25th of July, after a delav of fimr days, we succeeded in making a start. A sketch of early exploration on the \'ukon has been given by Dw G. M. l>awson, in Part B, Annual Peporl of the Geological Survey for 1887-.'^S, and it will be unneces.sary to repeat it here. Fort Yukon, which was originally one of the best built forts in the north, is now a , V. 1 MCCONNEIL ] (iLD FORT Yl-KON TO FORTY MILE CREEK. 135 D I ) thing of tlie past, und with the exception of one ot the outbuildings, which h«as probably also disappeared by this time, has been torn down to supply wood for the steamers plying on the river. While in possession of the Hudson's Bay Company some gardening inuHiit , . . . ., , , ... ,. , . niivigation. tracking is impossible except tor trifling distances at long intervals. Tlie water along the cut banks is too deep a few feet from the shore for poling, and to advance we were obliged to combine the use of an oar on the outside, a pole on the inside, while I steered and paddled behind. Even this complicated method of propulsion often became impracticable, and progression in some places was only attainaiilo by clinging to the overhanging branrhes and pulling ourselves up foot by foot. For long reaches the banks are umlermined by the wash of the stream, and a> the l>oat creeps along beneath the overhanging wall from which masses ot sand and other material are momentarily falling, it is constantly threatened with destiiictioii. Vexatious delays are also caused by the numerous trees which have been undermineil and have fallen forwai'tls into the stream, Init still cling to the bank by their roots. Above these, ilriliwood accumulates until it tbrnis a projecting point around which the current swirls with redoubled velocity, and to pass them is often the work of hours. The width of the river is so great that tiiffieult spots cannot be avoided as in other streams by cross- ing to the opi)o-^ite bank, and the ascent must be made entirely on one side. The eastern side is usually pi-eferi'od. 136 D (iEOLOOICAL AND NATCRAL HISTORY SURVEY OF CANADA. Older rocks hidden. Ij LenKth of Iheloni'tli of this expanded islaml-tilled stretch ahovo the mouth isliind-fllled c^t i, ■ • , ., , . , stretch. 01 the J/oi-cupine was estimated at seventy miles, although a miner, the only one so far as I could hear, who had ascended it, assured me that it could not be less than three hundred and fifty miles. His esti- raateniiist, however, betaken rather as ;i measure of the dilflculties he encountered than of the true length. We made the ascent in five days, but to do this were obligetl to work at our full capacity lor foui'teon or fifteen hours a day. With a jti'oper boat much better time could have been made. The older rocks along this stretch uio deeply buried beneath a thick accumulation of recent siind>, clays and gravels, antl no exposures were ;iny whore seen. Chief Scnuteo. Before reacliing the head of the ishinds we crossed to the right bank, and on our sixth day passed the cam]) of Senatee, the head of the Fort Yukon Indians, and the most powerful chief in the whole Yukon coun- try-. Many stories are told of cruel murders and rapes committeil by Senatee in days gone bj^, but time has now tamed his ferocious dispo- sition, and changing circumstances have shorn him of much of his once absolute authority-. He received us hospitably, and after an ox- change of fish for tobacco had been made, commenced a long oration, descriptive of his enduring love for the Knglish (Hudson's l^ay Com- pany) and hia regret that they had left the country, and his genertil dislike of the Yankees (Alaska Fur Company), but as time was pre- cious the harangue was cut short by the present of a couple of handfulls of tea, the probable object lor which it was made, and we proceeded on our journey. Above the Indian camp the river commences to contract. It bends more to the east, and is bordoi'edbv narrow beaches, a welcome change, which ei;ii bled us, much to our relief, to sulistitute the tracking line for the polos and oars, and to mtiko better progress with less exer- tion. The shore here is strewn with blocks of dark carbonaceous look- ing cleavtibie slitUes, and on the eastern side of the river bedded rocks, probably of tiio same description, could be seen In situ, but were not examined, as a crossing meant the loss of several miles wearisomely won, and was only made when rendered necessary by the exigencies of the navigation. Tlui elevation of the country bordering the river is here higher, and a considerable valley is developed. Fifteen miles above the Indian camp the river is reduced to about half a mile in width, and assumes an easterly direction. A crossing to the eastern side was et^'octod here, and a lino of dirts which made their a])pearaiice seven miles below, was found to consist of massive eruptive rocks, which River contracts Increased elevation of bordering region. ( » HCCONNELL.] OLD FORT YIKON TO FORTV MILE CREEK. l.'iT D «' are described in my notes as basalts and fine and coarse tri'uined dole- occurrence of mites, but unfortunately the specimens iiave mis-oarrit-cl. The vok-anic "'" ''" rooks hero are, as a rule, coarser textured and older looking than those seen at the IJamparts on the Porcupine, and no amy<;daloids or vesi- cular varieties such as occur there were noticed. It is uncertain whether they foi'm pai'ts of the same flow or not. althougli the relative position of the two areas and the northerly trend of the elevated coun- try leads to the supposition that they do, and in this case the westerly edge of the flow would cori-espond in a genei-al manner with the east- ei'n boundai'v of the great plain which extends up the Polly-Yukon and Porcupine from thoii- continence. The basalt and associated igneous rocks enclose numerous detached T""','"'*,"*' ^ l),-i?iilt sheet masses of shales derived from the underlying terranes, and dark shales with 11. -11 1-1 1 . . , . imilerlying and limestones tutod at high angles project up into tliem m many rocks. 2)laces in a similar manner to that noticed on the Porcupine. They were traced along the river for fifteen or twenty miles, a ' are then replaced by a confused succession of shales and limestones, probably refci'able to a large extent to the Carboniforous. alterniiting with the dark shales, sandstones and quartzites of the Cretaceous. The whole series is greatly disturbed, and folded closely togethei', and the beds often show vertical dips. The general strike is S. S. E. The sliales and associated limestones and sandstones tire exposed in continuous sections for seven or eight miles, and are then again almost buried be- neath a second basaltic occurrence, and only the higher points of'^'";'i"'"''»5aitic ' •' o I occurrence. the old rugose surface rise into view above the bottom of the val- ley. The line of contact of the Tei'tiary basalts with the underlying se- dimentaries in this region, both on the Yukon and the Poi'cupine is, speaking generally, nearly coincident with the present level of the rivei-8. The second basaltic area where cut by the idver has a width of ten Wi.ithof or twelve miles. Above it the rocks are concealed on the eastern gj jg '*"®'^"' '^"''' for some distance, and then the shales and sandstones of the Cietaceous outcrop on the banks, and are present all the way to the Tatonduc. a distance of about thirty-five miles. The beds are sometimes horizon- tal, but usually undulate at varying angles, but seldom to such tin ex- tent as to expose the underlying Palteozoic limestones. Conglomerates Conglomerates, consisting largel\' of small pebbles of schist, quartzite and slate, im- bedded in a hai'd stindstone matrix, are occasionally associated with the shales and sandstones, and in one place about eight miles above Chai'lie's village, attain a great development. They overlie the shales at this point. Some miles below the mouth of the Tatonduc speci- 138 D GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SCRVET OF CANADA. Depth of valley. FoIdiuKS. Sonistose .• replace shn! limostunes, 'ii mens of the characteristic Queen Charlotte Islands' formation fossil Aucella Mosquensis var. concentrica, were collected from the beds below the conglomerates. The valley of the Pelly-Yukon becomes gradually deeper as we ascend, and above Chai'lie's village the banks were estimated to have an elevation in places of from eight hundred to a thousand feet. Above the mouth of the Tatonduc the foldings increase in severity, and the Palreozoic limestones and shales are brought up and alternate in broad bands with the shales, sandstones and conglomerates of the Cretaceous. A black carbonaceous variety of shale is repeated at a number of points, and often shows polished slickensided surfaces, due to the crushing to which it has been subjected, which simulate very closely the appearance of anthracite. The alternaticn of the Cretaceous, beds with the older limestones and shales continues until near the I'jundary, a distance measured along the river of about forty miles. No .•osf'ils wore found in this part of the river, but lack of time prevented • ireful search for thcm.='= "■6 '. iior.. distance below the boundary the rocks referred to above are es, "^ etc. replaced by a very dilferent looking set, consisting mainly of altered volcanic rocks, and characterized by ageneral greenish colour. Among them are important bands of serpentine, hard quartzose, sheared and altered greenish schists, softer greenish chloritic looking schists,., silvery mica-schists, diabases, shales and slates. Picrolite was noticed in several places, and beds of chert are not uncommon. The schistose beds must underlie the limestone series, (Carboniferous?) although the dip would place them above, as the latter is overlain directly in many * Mr. Ogilvie has furnished me with the folIowiiiK geological notes obtained on his traverse from the month of the Tatonduc across to the head water of the Porcupine and down the hitter stream to its confluence with Bell Kiver :— Darli shales overlain by fine grained conBlomerates which are donbtless the enuivalents of the Cretaceous bods observeil on tlie I'dly-Yukon, occur alouK the Tatonduc for twenty-seven miles from its mouth. At two points in tliis distance lime- stones rise to file surface from beneath the shales and liy tlieir superior hardness contract tlie valley into short cafions. The conglomerates are described by Ogilvie as weathering in some of the ridges and mountains into picturesiiue Ciistelliited clitVs. fn the upper part of the valley of the Tatonduc the Cretaceous shales and conglomerates are replaced by greyish Palmozoic lime- stones. Similar limestones were also met with all across the watershed separating the Tatonduc from the Porcupine where they form a range of high mountains and down the latter stream as? (ar as the Cathedral Rocks. At two points on the Porcupine, viz. : two miles and ten miles ro- spcclivcly below the forks, the limestones are underlain by reddish mottled sandstones similar in appearance to those occurring at Sault Ste. Marie, lielow the Cn'hedral Rocks dark shales of Cretaceous iige appear again, and were tlie only rocks observed all the way to the mouth of Hell Hiver, where connection was made with my traverse down the Porcupine. An interesting fact noted by Ogilvie is the emission near Slieep Mountains, of sulphuretted hydrogen gas in large Muantities from the surface, and he states that he was informed by his guide that a small lake a short ilistance from the trail is kept constantly agitated by the escape of similar gas, and that the sulphureous fumes prove fatal to all aninnils which venture near. Kast of the Rocky Mountains sulpliuretted hydroiien gas issues in numerous places from the petroliicrous limestones of the Devonian, but it is possible that its presence here is due to volcanic action. ■4 Si . t MCCONNELL.] FORTT MILE CREEK. 1311 D I places farther down the river by the shales, ' andstones and conglomer- ates of the Cretacoous. East of the river above the boundary, and running parallel with it Limestone . . range. for some distance, is a high naked range, built of limestones striking in a south-easterly direction and dipping at high angles towards the river. Resting on these, and apparently overlying them, are the rocks just described. The schistose beds alternate occasionally with limestone bands, altered in places into marble, and are traversed in all directions by quartz veins. They are exposed all the way to Forty Mile Creek and beyond. They are of the greatest economic imjiortance, as they con- Economic stitute thegold bearing rocks of the district, and are on the strike ''fst4'i'srb"itf °^ the same motallifor.*us zone on which CasNiar and the other principal mining camps to the south are situated, and which has now lieen traced northwards across Canadian territory from the 49th par- allel to the eastern boundary of Alaska, a distance of fully twelve hundred miles. Four miles below the mouth of Fort}- Mile Creek, a small stream was passed coming in from the op]iosite side, on which a coal seam is Coal seam. reported to occur, but nothing definite was learned about it. Forty Mile Creek. We arrived at Forty Mile Creek on the 9th August, fourteen days Arrive ..t Forty having been occupied on the journey up from Fort Yukon. This is the * ' ^ headquarters of the miners on the Yukon, and thirty or forty men wei-e camped here waiting for reports from the various prospecting par- ties which were exploring the surrounding country, and ready to start at a moment's notice. The present season proved very unfavourable rnfnvournbie for mining operations on account of the persistent high water, and *'^^*'""' with the exception of a short period earl}- in the summer, very little work was done on Forty Mile Creek, and the amount of gold taken out was eMof jrou. estimated at scarcely 815.000. A few days before my arrival a stam- pede had been made lor Beaver River, a northern tributary of the Yukon, which is stated to enter the latter about a hundred and twenty miles below the mouth of the Porcupine, but with somewhat disastrous results. The amount of information required to stampede a mining •'^'•""I'cde "f * J .-• miners. camp is very small, and in the present case was almost ridiculous. A report was brought up by the men on the steamer that a miner had boarded the boat at the mouth of Beaver lliver, and after talking in a hurried manner to the captain, had suddenly departed, and in his haste had left his purse behind him. The miners reasoned that 140 U (lEOLOUlCAL AND NATURAL IHSTORV SURVEV OF CANADA. I DifDcultics in prospecting. Yield of gold. Argentiferous galena. nothing but ii ricli find would ctiusc such an excitement, and a hun- dred and fifty men immediately iuadod their boats iind started on a wild goose oiiase down the river, only to meet with dir^uppointment at the end of their Journey. A few received a pas.sage up again on the steamer, but the gi-eater number drifted on down towards St. Michaels, and left the minin:;' country altogether. Prospecting in the Yukon country is attended with peculiar disad- vantages, and requires men of more than ordinary persevei-ence and endurance for its successful prosecution. The Yukon itself is very swift and diflBcult to navigate, but is easy as compared with many of the tributary streams which are simply a long succession of canons, whirlpools and rapids, and skill and courage i/i a high degree, in addition to a golden bait, are necessary in order to brave the perils of their ascent. Provisions are high priced and scarce, and in the up])er part of the river cannot bo obtained at all, and supplies for the summer must be packed across the Coast Range in the early spring and sledded for two hundred miles down the river to the lower end of Lake Labai'ge before the break up of the ice, in order to be on hand when the season opens. Added to this is the shortness of the period avail- able for work, which under the most favourable circumstances never exceeds three months, and in seasons of exceptional high water, such as the present, is very much less. In view oi' these drawbacks pros- pecting must proceed slowly, and uj) to the present has been confined almost entirely to the lai-ger and more accessible streams. The most important strike made so far has been on Forty Mile Creek, on which coarse gold was discovered in 1886. This discovery occasioned a rush towards the creek of nearly all the miners in the district. In 1887 over 200 men were actively and successfully employed along the numerous bars, and the total yield for the season was variously estimated from 805,000 up to 81.50,000. The present season has prov- ed much less remunerative, ])artly owing to the unfavourable state of the water and partlj' to the fact that the rich claims first discovered have been worked out, the auriferous gravels being of little depth and easily exhausted. The most productive part of this stream is west of the Alaska boundary. It has a total length, according to the miners, of about 150 miles, of which only the lower twenty miles are in Cana- dian territory, and in this part very little work is now being done. The average value of labor is 810 a day, and bars which yield less than this are soon abandoned. No important strike was made anywhere in the district in 1888. A lode of argentiferous galena crosses Forty Mile Creek a short dis- tance above its mouth, and a specimen brought back by Mr. Ogilvie MCCONNELl .] FORTY MILE CREEK TO THE MOUTH nF THE STEWART. 141 D was aspjiyed in this office by Mr. llotlmaiin, and found to contain 38-{\^fj oz. of silvt'i- to the ton. Tellurium is leportctl troni the head of the stream, ami soams of coarse serpentine asbeslus occur near its mouth. .Some days were spent at Forty Mile Creek in making projjarations prepare for for the long trij) up the river and, in buikiing a long, narrow, sharp- """' "'"■'"■■• ended boat, modelled after the pattern of those used by miners in ascending swift streams. Trader John, who had helped us gallantly in the ascent from Fort Yukon, eturned home from heie, and a miner named Buckle}', was engaged for the remainder of the trip. tfl. Forty .Mrr.E Cbeek to the Mouth of the Stewart. We left Forty Mile Creek shortly after noon on the 14th August, and r,e;ive Forty passed the mouth of the Stewart early on the morning of the 19th.* The distance ineasured along the river is about 120 miles. The direction as far as Fort Reliance is nearly east, but be^'ond that point the river bends slowly round and runs almost west for a few miles, after which it maintains a general southerly course to the mouth of cimrncterof the Stewart. The width of the river in the lower portion seldom ex-"''^"' ceeds half a mile, but above Fort Reliance it gradually enlarges, and in the southerly reach occasionall}' exceeds a mile in width. In the expanded stretch, however, much of the surface is occupied by islands. The current is swift and uniform, and at a medium state of the water runs at the rate of tive miles an hour. Beaches line the shore, and tracking, except at very high watei-, is possible nearly the whole way. The valley of the Yukon between Forty Mile Creek and the Stewart, f,,j,,^^^jg^pj. and on to the mouth of the Pelly, is cut through an elevated undulat-^"'"'=>' ing plateau, on which I'est numerous low ranges of rounded and partially bare hills, but is not crossed by any well defined moun- tain range. It is somewhat uniform in appearance, but atlbnls many picturesque and even grand views. Blurts of rock of a more or less precipitous nature, are of constant occurrence, and bold rampart- like ranges of interrupted clitl's, separated and continued upwards by steep grassy or wooded slopes, characterize the banks for long reaches. The flats are few and unimportant, and as a rule the river washes the base of the banks on both sides. The width of the valley varies from one to three miles, and its depth from tive to fifteen hundred feet. Its great size, taken in connection with the hard character of the crystal- line rocks through which it has been excavated, attord evidence of Ageof valley, great age, and point to an origin long antecedent to the glacial period. 142 D OEOLOaiOAL AND NATfllAL HISTORY >PRVEV OF CANADA. I i Roi'ks objorvo'l. Dyke Tho Hjiino fact is also omphasizcil by llie ifinarkably uniform ^ratlo whit'h the rivor has worn across torranes of hetero<^oneous harcliicss, raiij,nrig tiiroiigh tho whole Ljeoloific-al scale in its long course from liink Rapid to the si'a,a distance of nearly I.T'IO miles. Rock sections are numerous along the valley, but tho geology is in- tricate and ditlicult, ami somewhat confusing tn a traveller passing hurriedly through along one lino. Above Foi-ty Mile Creek the same series of micaceous and altered greenish schists and slates which obtain l)elow are continued for six or eight miles, and are then rcplacod by gi'oyish granite. Tho schists are traversed by both quartz and calcite veins, usually of small size. Tliev dip at high angles, and have a general south-south-easterly .-trikc. Tho granite is a medium-grained, some- wliat altered variety, showing no ilistmct foliation, it is composed j)rincipally of quartz, jjlagioclase. orthocla>e, muscovite, biotite and epiilote. From the central granitic mussi a set of dyke-i radiate out into the surrounding schists. The dyke-^ often pass in between tho beds, but were also seen cuttinir across thom. Above the jxranito bos^ the schistose series resume> again and continues as far as the bend above Fort JJcliance. Those roclcs arc broken uj) in several [)lacos by granite intrusions, and the granite a])peaied to lie itself cut in one |)lace by a darker and more basic igneous rock of which 1 diil not obtain speci- mens. A specimen of rather coarse textured granite, collected above Fort Eeliance, holds numerous grains of copper pvrites, and may pos- sibly be auriferous, but ha- nin iieen aualyzeii. The schists occasion- ally show copper stains running ]iarallel with the foliation. Some miles above Fort Keliancc a band of dark argillites, interbed- ded with limestones, crosses the river. Like the schists it is traversed by numerous quartz veins. It is followed for seveial miles by schists of various kinds, but usually more or less micaceous, and occasionally passing into a well foliated rather rino grained mica-gneiss. The lat- ter increases in relative iiropoitien, and assumes a coarser texture as we asceiul the river. Igneous granitic intrusions occur every few miles. Fifteen miles below Sixty Mile Creek, a peculiar looking soft green- ish rock consisting of glossy talc, and green serpentine was found at several hoi-izons interbeddod with the schists. The square columnar crystals from which the serpentine has been derived still preserve their original form, and penetrate in all directions the lighter coloured tal- cose matrix. They show under the microscope traces of the <|uadran- gular cleavage of augite, but are otherwise completely altered. E.tpo3uros Opposite Sixty Mile Creek the exposures show lustrous muscovite- MncOreeli*'^ mica-schists, dark biotite-mica-schists grading into mica-gneisses, Oranilo intrusions I •ICCONNELL.] STEWART RIVER TO THE PELI.V. 143 D horiibloiide gneissic schists luid compact felsitic rocks imlistinctly foliatoil. Witli tliosc iiro ussociatod greyish biotito griinites, and a Colourod graiiitoid or- syonilic rock, consisting oforthochiso, j)lai;i()cl;isc niall mill the crystals arc greatly criisliod and hroUen. A second variety of this rock shows largo, coloured crystals of felsi)ar, porphy- ritically distributed through a tinogi'ained niici'o-ei'ystalline base. From the vicinity of Sixty Mile Ci'oek to the mouth of the Stewart. Hooics hetwoen the rocks arc oldei' looking and more distinctly gneissic than those ob-cp.ek'aiid ilie -ervod further down the river. The most abundant variety is u light^'""'"''" reddish-colouicd, medium-grained, well toliated niica-gnciss, i'omi)osed of quartz, orthociase, plagioclase, biotite and muscovite. i"]pidole, •clorite, calcite and ilmenilo aie also nearly always present. In some <;ases the micas are replaced altogether by chlorite. With the gneisses are associated several vai'ietie.s of mica-schists, and occasionally sumo hornbk'iidic schists. Numci'ous veins of coai'so pegmatite, ([uartz, and iess fre(iuently calcito, cut the beds in all directions, and aie present in iieai'l}' eveiy section. Stewart Eiveu to tiik Pei.lv. Tlie Stewart River has not been ex])lurcd. At the mouth it is two xho Stewart hundred j'urds wide, but the current is not rapid, aud it appai'ently carries less water- than either the Peliy or the Porcupine. It is im- ported to be navigable for two hundred miles above its mouth, (rold was discovered on it in 188'), and in that and the following year, gold to the value of $100,001) was obtained from it, according to an estimate yjeiji of goi,i. made by Dr. Dawson on information from miners. The princijial bars •were, however, exhausted in these two years, and in 1SS7 the yield diminished to about 85,000, but this was partly due to the withdrawal of most of the minors to Forty Mile (!reek. In the present year an attempt was made by two prospectors to trace the gold to its source but without success. " Colours '' wer.' pi'esent as far as they ascended, but not in paying quantities, and no tributaries were found down which the gold in the lower part of the river might have descended. They report that the river grows in its upper part by the reception of num- erous small streams heading in swamps, none of which arc gold- bearing. An iniportant feature of the river is the constant recurrence alonsj; it of high gravel terraces, most of which are more or loss auri- iiigh gmvoi ,.,...11.1 1 II tcirivjes. ferous, and occasionally yield as high as a cent a pan, and could pro- bably be worked proritably on a large scale. It is possible that the gold found on the bars in the river is concentrated from these. From the mouth of the Stewart the Pelly-Yukon trends in a south- 144 D UEOLOCIICAL AND NATURAL UlSTORY SURVEY OF CANADA. :>■ White River White River the relly. Charnctor of roolts. woMtcrly direction for ton niilew to its Junction witli Wliito River. In this roacli it averaj,'cs a iiiile in wiiltli, and is tilled wilii islands. 'I'lio liaiiliK of tlio valley are sloep and rocky, and were estimated at troiu 800 to lOOO I'eet In liei/^tii. (iarnetit'erous m 'list was nniifoda short distance above tlie Stewart, and (hirU hai .ca-schi>ts and li'^iit reddisii well I'oliated i^noisses are exposcil all along. An extensive M^'-steniofquait/. veins is devclopotl along hero, and g(dddioaring niiart/. iH reported to have been found. White River, like tlio Stewart, has not been explored, and has only been ascontled by miners for a distance of sixty miles from its moutii. A view up it from the opposite bank of tiie Pelly-Vukon showed a wide valley tilled wi'li countless bars and islands between which, the divided stream tiireaded its toi-tuoiis course. Its current is swift, and it preci- ]iitatos itself into the Yukon with a force sulHcient to drive its muddy water half way across, but scar(;ely to force it up on the o])posite bank in the manner ilosci'ibod by Schwatka, and the two streams flow side by side for several miles before their waters become completely fused. The turliid character of the White River is f "nous, and suflicient sediment is l)rought down to change the colo *' the whole Pelly- Yukon flood from tt pale green to a milky whi 'hite River is re- ported to head in glaciersdoscendiiigfrom high mountains, but nothing verj' definite is known concerning it. "Colouis" of gold have boon obtained from it, but no paying bars have so far been discovered, to From White River to the Polly the distance is ninety miles. Tho direction is at first south-westerly, but tho I'iver soon bonds round to the east and follows an E. S. E. bearing tho greater part of the way. The width of the river is somewhat reduced, and varies from a quarter to half a mile, while the current averages about five miles an hour. Islands occur at intervals, but are less numerous than in the roaches below. The valley preserves its usual depth of from SOO to 1,000 feet, but for some distance above White River tho banks are more wooded and show rocky bluffs above supported on steep slopes below. Farther up it is again bordered by steep gneissic and basaltic dills. Gravol terraces occur occasionally and ajipearod to increase in height as we ascended. The prevalent rock for many miles above White River is a hard, granular and often moderately coarse-grained, Archaean looking mica-gneiss of somewhat varied mineralogical composition. This occasionally passes into mica-, chlorite- and hornblende-schists. The minerals most commonly present are quai tz, plagioclase, orthoclase, biotite, muscovite, chlorite, hornblende, cpidotc, calcite, magnetite and ilmenite. In some cases tho rock is greatly crushed and altered, and h i McCONNCll.] STEWART RIVEtl TO THE I'KI.LY. \\:> I) tho miciia and hoi-nbleiulos aro loplaced almowt entirol}" by chlorito, PlugiochiHo Ih always preMOiit ami ot'Lcn in grcutoi" abunilanco tliaii ortlioclaHo. (Quartz veins occur Icmh lro([U('ntly as wo aBcond, and aro replaced by veins of course ]io^inaiitc. l^nooiis i-ocks arc almost absent in tlio lower part of this roach, but coarso granito> and diorites were met with about twonty-tivo miles below the mouth of the Polly. Three niilos above this point the older rocks aro covered Tertiary laviu. with vesicular lavas of Tertiary a^o. The lavas arc exposed foi' a short distance and then recede from tho river at a bend which tho lat- ter makes around a hi^-h terrace built of coarso ;i?ravols. Resting- on this terrace is ii small I'cd of white volcanic ash, fro(|Ucnt occurences of which were noticed on tho I'olly by Dv. Dawson, and aro described In Part B., Annual Report, 1887-88. Above tho j^ravel terrace the lavas resume, and are present all the way to the Pidly. 'f hey aro underlain by gneisses similar to those described before, and by granites and dioritos. A specimen "f diabase-porphyry composed of crystals of augito and plagioclaM' porphritically distributed through a micro- crystalline chloritic base, was obtained from the cliffs west of the flat on which Port Selkirk was situated. After reachiniT the site of Old Fort Selkirk, at the confluence oi the Polly and Lew rivers, my journey was continued up tho last-named stream and over the Chilkoot Pass to the sea, which was reached on the 15th September, 1888. This part of my route, therefore, coincides with that followed and examined in 1887 by Dr. Dawson, and is described by him in Part 13., Annual Report of tho Geological Survey, 1887-88. h 10 1-16 D (iEOLOaiCAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY' OF CANADA. c o ■•§ u ^• ft O w 4; ^ c 'A a: H > c^ ^ tf © p K M - >^ 03 g -♦J c 3; :^ Hq • _« -1-i M^ -r. ,^ 1^ P a P-1 < c OJ 5 03 '^ S H^ ^ ■- S ^ w t^ v: M ^^ a; - c r^ Q) m ti, i; a oi ;' r: -«-» ci3 PI ¥. J^ -t^ .-T -^ "i ^- g 4J i^ 9J == ■_ ^" 1- ® ^5 S * ° S 5-? ^ 2 ;; cs 4) — r^ -S c :^ ^ . !"'■• t"" ■ P'S c = I . » S'^ 15 i S5J a— it ? 2 a) it £ u ~ u 3 t.' ■ = 'i . •'..- St a ^' it ti ■? !■?'.= = 1 =.5 tc a- r ill S - .2' a:-A x5h£ :5 o5-;:3x^^ ^ '■' 1;^ ;; ^ ^ — t s-1 Ii I'E i 2s -'i ■= 5 2; r/jS: j-^ £3 £ = =:: S = =::-' ^ = g: - 6-'-^ 2;'-^ '"■--'5 yj „■ . . -J li be s : -r. ■ ■ ■ : •/. 7: 'fi 5? :^: ?; 4) C >,'7 iA fc£x . I •M — ..; tiM '^^^^;^=^^^^^ I T .1^ : i ?? t--,rr. v:ac',i 1-1-1- - I--,; I- - -/r -i--,ci--^i-i-t-i--/:--i-;i /; vr :/D-^i- j; 1--C -/: ■,; • — 3 = z a ■— -Z y.T rn-^ f.Z f. 'Z f. ■£ 3 C — - . . I a 3 23 n <£•■ ei - . . o .;;::;;;;; 6f ; ■ "C ■ ;■■'■ 3 ::::::::: •'^ i) ••*.■' ^1 . . — - s .5 1, - . • > • 3 c fl id S > ■Z ^ ^ •a = ^ — ~ y- 3 - .i _- « <; a H to PI 1-18 D <.EOI.OGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SIIIVET OF CANADA. i: s •- b-i. a c o •S >. -J .5 CM 0^ s o c - - - ti-— '^. - • • I. s S ■• 5^~- P5- • -■ ;£0 I •< --Ouv^^-zJ^yJucV^Ma.^ : o/.x«-.' ''•'-^.r'^--.^■-• •/.•y^/j-' -^ •/•/: : x^ xx.^ x-^-' '-■^'' >', CO ' u5 ' iO 5 :;? :S S :5 ij' irS ic '^ u5 — 'C'xr »A -r -^ il5 m ■*? re .'X 'O'-s*^'^ xt'tt*^ \£ i.. trstc* o it ^^ ^'^ '^ *^. • ^ 30 M ?t irt ac ?i c ^* I-- IJ3 TJ o Q o c^ o *i lO c w rj < "(5 Q I - "* "^ ^t CI -^ c:: t.- t- 1' a: -X t'* -c ac'-^ X -*■ M rt fC ^ -- 1^ ic— X 1 - 1 5 ^ : :> ^-g o . ■ - • y im ' M . • ■ ^ • '— « ' ' * * " : x: -=. ■" > 3 M S * ._ ^ X. S : X C 5 =• a- =1 ~ ■= a i- 75 H r- ' at-" ^ — "s g.>J ^ « A s o ti 7. t: 3 IT. u O X to u< » U4 J- o if McCONNELL.J METEOROLOGICAI, OBSERVATIONS. 149 D c > - .s ■/, >^-^ is CU Six t^ br >► ^ X n. ■• - • ' ; '- 1^ : ' ^"^ 5 Pi ^ c^ 3 'a 93 6C 1 "S it St m o ti >; . = =• - i 5- - - ' '£ i a- 5'- _5,i 5' ^ S' ' .S 5" " ^ 55" 5 ";§:: "5 '^s o c;2 d-^«;>j — '-j-^ox^ o - : :--^ : o /^-j : :;:::: : : »* . . ■ • • ; t • i, . -,-..> s» . •..- -^ .aa .-.- iv:,;-^ . ^5- i; — ;. • ; ig :« ii? :5 :S :?1 ;?: :S '■'i :?? ;?i i?^ !« \'^ '\^ :*^ i*^ ;^ \'^' :^ :^ !-^ :?^ ■'^ ' : a a H 5 =; H H =J. S M M 3 M 2 5 2 ^ a 3 3 2 3 H ^ H S. S H S 3. S i S 5 ^ a. : 5 ::::: J : I — -:-•: 5 ?:•:-■- = •• = = •-'- = --■-"*-•'"''"• • ry. . ^ ■ ^ X' •^ -l- - -ti. ■a-^ c: ■<-► J —' .3 " © - ■^ — b- .— ■S « 5) : :x: Pi — r 3 3 Pn f'. •rj 5 ^ - - -^ • _ • 5) "x ? ^1 >- -^ 0. ;s t 150 D GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY OF CANADA. ■rj X RaininR in afternoon. Clear at noon. Clearing. First snow of the sea.-oii. Cold, disacreeahle weather. Weather at time. 4u^ Mi li 1 1 Wind. S i^ \?i is :S is \p. :2 ' o ^S^.a?a5^« = S55??,?]£;fS Hour. Bar. 1 1' £BES=H==SS==S=5e ,k i.iz.i i.r. i.i i.T. i-k —i z X i^ X i^ X 1- -x X 'X X X oc X cr X ac 1. as Z LOCALITY. 1 IS Fort Proi-idnnAA . k-^/y i MCCONNELL.] n C5 I CO 00 cc CO I O ! b < 1 EH ' J3 W MZTEOROLOaiCAL OBSERVATIONS. 151 D -c .s a .a o c ■^; fc- 5 . ~ « rf *■ PMCOMi-3 ■A o P3 5!-pS s :.|1 — _o "5 .1111 SU to- ' c a O i = >• = i MO/;C c c » o fy ^ . i^ ■/:2;'/i ico ■ :'^«? . .CO «?./ yj>^*/j^^cc_ f-i 1" r-« i-H OJ T t .-H ^ S: = S5SaSa = a = a = S3SaSEH5 23S3g3S2S=. aSHHSHE^ TC r. — ~ li^ r; »c c. u^ -. lO c: »c oa ic C5 lO c. ic w. >^ c: 1^ c. ».t cs «c 3; »o c: i-t r. i.t ~ t-T c; ir: r. »o 152 D OEOLOQICAL AND NATIRAL UISTORY SURVEY OK CANADA. I I, I a Q p— I % g < en O l-H H M n o ij •< o o o S CO Pi3 ,5 * •a • c be s Si; :; = >. a s So c O t£ — ■.■a - 2 rs — £■ u ^- ■ S S s o § cco5 S -3 .5 S d n 3 BSOO O 5 S >^ K t^ S eS tj -5 c^ >. 2 >. i >. i i 2 X I ^-O -J c u ^ ii u ? « - 3 u- : : : : : ; : : : : : : : : : : : '■•r. ■i.^4;irr:A . . . .'h :A . . :AA . .a -/ crjt^ .~r>.- ?)— I'TM it- '.t~ it- i LO -C i TT 1 1.- ^C " . - . .r-, .^ .cc -rH .,- . . .^ .»! .0^) . - ; 1 It :'- r iT in '. <* lac I -t iffi •"1 •■'^ — '•'-' '• ^ '• ^ ■ -^ i** • :■: .»— i .-^ —1 •'TvJ .CC •ira tC-l -Tl -i— t .— . .M •C't •?! •<—« :?i i'^ :?) [:: \ii : ? i f i ?j ?i ?i ^ ri ?i fi ?i fi ?. 5^' ?i f i ?i 5 i fi 5i ?i ?i f i ?i ?i ?i fi H=HS==£522SSSSS95aSSSHS=S53S3H3S95SSH3= ~ ic 7". I/; ~. I ." r: li^ • '^ "•'t T- •••^ ;■. ut " 'C ^. ut ~ o " ut :r^ ic T". •-'? ^. »•'?' * '* r: i."; rv lo ~ ut Ci i NNELL.] METEOROI.OUICAL OBSERVATIONS. 1.-.3 D .Sf '= - be a •= c -c •c = >. g 1 ?= I = .. SJ. = N _ _ _ T : S -^ S — — OH - ' _; » ,j s u I = .^- * 2 ^ p >■ tc . -iJ O = J: H SjJi j; i = 2 3 S si 3 e_S: :t -■ :- z X > xxroiziz;?;^ c^i^i-^c^coTi-TrH — T— r: V2 c^„_ — _ fe . •=: „ \ ^ ,, ; -«. .. : 1 ;c 1 1 1 : 1 ;' "1 1 ir r~ ,^ • — : 1 1 : ■" -J a '.Zii,^iz _ X ■/. v. '/- 'A w ■/: 72 ■/ ■/.' t ;■,' : I : I I : I I'll I I I I II II I II M I ''' II I I r I I I I I W OS iC Oi L*? ri U5 CS iC C6 »C O iC 5i iC 0> lO 5: 1^ ^ ifl Ci i.-t rv lO 3t ifl 3: U5 a; O S'. u^ T. u-t C^ u* T. u^ ^. u^ J: u- T. to * ^ c-1 " re -^"fic '■ *i3-^r— I- •r' a: ~ r; ■^ c — '— 'Timt* j? •^■^i- t.-^-x -^ t--l* X X n r. c ^r-i — ■n ~i"* -^ ■— fi,- ■- -^ ■^l- 154 D KEOLOaiCAI- AND NATURAL HISTORV SURVEY OK CANADA. I s a » g H M (^ o I— I H > (A S3 03 ^ C3 3 O « S e? o 3 e^ S o o 3 , _; ■r ■■^."^ 2 =3 cS Z 3 3 o 2 e_ /v CO rt . U) .— 7. CJ 0) B -4^ 1 ^1 3 fe X) II y. >o Be< OJ P ~ 5 c CO ■: £ " > 5: : vj o^" i* s : : e^ ^ e O c o >0 ^ ■yj O Y.O fei;?'- !z;z;2; .r:i^c-J cc O •CO j = = • :32^ ■-•- ; ■"» .^ : :Sq x^ •/.::;-[» -/J cod CO "^^ i5 CO :»;cc : cocov : :^ct5 : '•JS ■ o .,„-„„;=„ r^ - 71<-t coco i- : O :^y;-ox:!5'ga CO cow t5 ■.■A : :z : . ' : 1 : 1 ^if f If it o 1 f ' 1 Mi f ;t iT ;fi ?J I^ , ^ . ^ I : I I iTrTTl'T-riTuTTTI'I'i'TTTTTT'i "iT^TTT7V?T 2 = a = HgH = = s = = sasssssHH = ss = = = H = = ='ss3s = = aa ac3&r!dsiss.n=.sasa!8Q,o!C,3c.a:£s£si::diic.siKi.:ia.:;i. l/^ — . L-; C-. u5 a-, uc r: lo C-. ic r-. u; S5 lo S-. ■« - i« 3-. .- o-. ic c-. if5 ff-. ic - ira c-. uo oj «; cs i,^ =■- 1.0 ~ o ■-•- i cid . : ! ' 1— 1 • '■Z : :;^ i If] I DNNEIL.J METEOROLOdlCAL OBSERVATIONS, ■s 155 p J3 is -3 o t> I .I'Ha >^» a t * 2 >.2 i-. x b >>^\ 5 m5'-' " • M U M -^ « :-r ; - ■z.-J-~ ^C M :2;5^£'-« -'£-=^5 c.s. S. C.O.S. » 1-hOIM-i : 5 «-■ .^ ^' -J .-■ -; : tj — — ,fJ _ — -^ TJ-r* ;d-- ■/:7':^ =:> i: ^^&^ » ;« lif ■ ^^ T^^ ^I^ifl^; T !? :Y ?i •« : 1 : 1 : tI^ 7 • ^3 ' 1 : S :° :=^ :il 1 : : : 1 1 : 1 : 1 f •'■P .'X: .^^ .^ .^- -M !cC ^~" '. T~ Im* 1^1 's ic ?) .?! -c^ .M .(r< . ?i . r^i . ■M . r-1 - — .ri . ri -^ . ?. ' : I : I : I : I : I : I : I : I : I : 1 : I : I : I : I ^ -^ •- --r ■ •^. • • I :7 : f I M M I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I M I I I I I I I I I I I I I I f I I M ' ' o cc ?c -^ c-5 Ti .-« ci -^ u*. c^j .— . : f .c ac • • ■ t^ w cc ?t ^ cc ?^ c-'j^i ?i c-j T J i • ■ • SaS=S5=3=3 : L.* 'r '^ r^ I-. X x c ; o o — ^ ?i -M r^ ^r *2; ~" '* '* '-^ ^ t^ t^ ^ '^'^ — — P 15(i 1) QEOLOdirAL AND NATIKAL HISTORY SURVEY OK CAN..OA. 11 I i % B I— I H % W oa o o O o e •< I J : " y — X I' -75 1S a^ % ft^ *s "T! »•" 9 S-a ■« Si = 9 teas O 0) - -= u w ■I- 5 EC ro- o »4 . Ol- « S O O O 3 C ^5 •r . CO ifs -r I - -^ -r 1/: cc o o ;2y: . . 1»2 I : I : I T it ;7 S:z s;;?i>j:5sSKa^&a CI . -^ . 3C I : I : I ¥5 I : I t:t:Ti7if III I I I I I II I I ' '' 1 ' I I ' I I I II I II II I II II I I pa • ?i5553?i fj?5 S=HHSS3=SH==2332=====S=H==3=S=H=aH3aS3= 1/5 J: e; ^ m * i-*^ X. »0 * >/^ S*' Ut y. >-" ^' irt - . 1^5 3i to •- "O n to C^ Ift duo Jl »rt T. 'O curt J: O * 1.* 1 MCCONNEll.] METEkROLOOICAL niisEHVATloN- 157 D i a •i 3 a ■3 .£1 -3 Z o — 5 a !s » a a OB '/J - s = a W -JO X' 3 5 ^ 5 ^ K o o > c > -3 i-3. • :«r I —I I— « -^ aa yj'J2 1 f-H■^^^c■If • ^''^;z-;^J ; ^~ ' ' 1 :o3 - =1- ... ^ MM a 6J ..-I I : I ^ = 'nixy: — — -so -y." -/i •/.■ ■_■ >', A J. ;j 'J -J A ■/. 2; g; •/3 -J5M • • f i-ic:r-* d rnr.ji'.j'i dco«3-/j "•'"■=•' TrTr ^ . . . . ■■A 7 ;! r^ i so . (D • "f< . t» I : I : I : I : I T • I I : I I I I I I I I iT iT I I I I I I I I 'I I I ' I I I ' I ' I I I I I I •C O -M O (Tl O C-I I- Oi C'J C-l I ' Ci I ?t M CO ^ CC I i-H I I I I I 3 s 3 a a a a a a a a s = a a a s a a a a =' a a* a s a a a a a a' a a a a' s' a = a a 3 s a a' a a a a a CliO ~. I."? ~. 'O wl lO C. "? wIlC ^ iC C. i-C d '* * iC ^ii/; ~-»C r*. '.t C- ».~ ^. i.T cue C- 1.~ C". Ut C'T ~ '-t ^. ift CitC C 1."^ 3^iC ~ "."^ I' a 158 1> (JE<»LOUIi'AI, AND NATIKAI. HI.«.T"RY 81 RVEV "[' CANADA. N O Ph H C a. O I— I M O o O E-i ■S a 3 = a c c '/3 i cevi ■ v! . * •' T - ^ "3 ■ > *j ; : u c r - ■ > ~ c > ' C " V. C 7 .• ir « : 3 C 3 u is j;: e — a aosuttsxr-.M-i-^M • •*s«ssn = so .^m3>^ = ^ >',i'< ;>',>5?; ^:^;^^ ,• v. ■- 'y, ■/. ■/. r. y. >'. >', ; >'. X. X >: X , ■ ;', ji 1:; 2; .■■ji-j.j.-/i- r.u; -.«."o-»M I : I I ; 1 ; I I 12 := :T I : I : ' ^3;3-.«Cjlr-.mi-j;:J}5^gl,Jj- I I ^ 2<» ** h- CO O 00 I I I I I I I I I **I^CO'SQ " ^I it! n 5. - -? 30 = :^ • • 2C t- 1- o ^ r^ » o 1 - '-. M ;« rr , -T> ..^ 55 * *-f w *. =s 'C 'T 'T '5 i:c r-- 1^ j ^W?i^!?3fi^.^^^«^?ifi5iSfi^ififiS5i?i*i?irj?i?^^?^ a3a = :: = = 55HH = = H = = 5S = a = H5 = 4 5 = 253353335 = = iC'^tCi-i'Xxr. T. — C — ^-t'i-)C'r?C'P^ri.tit/: :c*^ h*r-cc3C3: ^S^*"* ^?j^^^c ) McCONMkl,] MKTEiiai'I.dUlcAL (ill.>EIlVATIONS. i".:i I. lis Is oe t-. Cja e e - Si *_ u £ = i; ii 00 -f 1 btbt .^ ^"5 ST c = •~ 1! a s If :s 'AUJ . fc. >i Z '^ u a! i> a t: i^s = <•> JiJtl= i= if- ■' 3; = s o = t- /, M . ri- :/; r> 2 ; :;?! :3vW£r: .y— lOM S^J^^^Sr,??/^ >',i^;5 K2;^.-A'/.'/j •/2 i-Hr-. — tlrtM S^ :- v.^^^ X. -l-ir -Tl v;?;^ ;t 8 51 :8 s !^ fl :fi $3 S .•?5 ••¥? .-S ;Q3S2«-|27»7-'p»?',?l-«'727^'fY°T-*^"«"27*""^?i3t^5SS?;^ri2!::-- 5=. 5:: = = a = = 3 = = = = = S = = = HaS = 35 = 3 = = a = = = = 3aa = 3S33Ha = = = g = = -=^----"---«a:i::.SiSioso,3c.flo.ss.aiaa.M£sjiisi!s£a£s'a,3£adS «a:ino:u-riina;ioCT.,n3:,ors«cjior.ioc;ico-.i0 5!^a)Oo;ica>inir..-5:,-r. irt=-.ioaiio:r.ic-..-5a-..--3-,in- s^lsssv'l 55 35S5ss.^s?;'~'~''=^ '■""'**'" '^- «>«''' '~«»---«=««N2;22'' '*'"'■' - *;::r"---"----- t. --.- S ^ ICO I) (JEOLOfilCAL ANIi NATURAL HISTORY SIHVEY OF CANADA. l:! If I ■J, o w > o o -^ 02 I— I H <^ K O O = 3 ?'5 o K""; a S ' 1 J ? u^ i >. 2 = >, i si's t- X ut N C V.-J2-/J ■ ; -J ■/. y; x d , • x •/.■ ^ c ^' ^' y" ^ /.' c 1 c o -2 i s M i a K O c W 1 ^ C'l^r- Tl— C>)- ZZ?;'-^ I : I :" : r'^ H S*S;SN;SSSfi2?;-=i-n?;i;;^SJ = r,£; 5 i.:iiSi.::£c;£.s£~-S.s£sc.sa-"c,s ir Z-- 1 - -. tc r. «/:j r: ut *. ».* r. irt r: 'C c. ut — i(t r. ir ^- :,• 2. £; S ;5 ri :q ?1 ?i ?! *5 ij ?; ?i ^1 il S ?. Si S ?. S ?5 VfCONNELl.] METEOROI.CKilCAL OllSERVATIONS. 1(11 n ■Ji a; 3:5 y^ X f4 < I H ■y. -.-eo c o o ^ '-^ u~ &■ u a, i^i hr - &^ c w •^ u -"* My. - -^ H'^ c: ^ a hJ -:;« ■& = I a .Z u *^«. M srs; i^± i- ^''s fc i'T ? "■ ^ — - 0- t> tt S ;: u u> 0) - — — ( x H '■-■'oai O -/2' ■S cici-t lie i>;>. 1 i i ii 00 xoi ~:r:'_ ■ ^ • • .0 =-?^?- ...;a..; ?;si>'.— a-'/'v.'-s; ;;? :?i :?v is :« :?, ;?i :?. :S : ::; :S ::^ :;S :^ :5 :^ ;?) : ::::;:;■;:::;:::::::; :^ : : •?'f''°y-~J?'ifjeMfi5i5ifi5iS = 53 = H = £ = 333 = 5 = 5535 = 32232 = 3 = HE = =" = = = 5 =' = a a CMC c. i^ c- •* ~. '" r. '''; r^ "^ ^- 't *. ic -T. 't C5 'C •. »c r: 1* r". ic J", ic ~. ir: ~. ic cjio r; »/D cftirt Ci — — ■—-■■— ^ — •-<>-i'-' — '-'- — i-^i-^i- ■t. s. a. s 11 1G2 D OEOLOrUCAL AND NATURAI. HISTdUV SUKVEY OF CAN'ADA. = £ ra Si < r* £. -c^ :;j ^ > t^^ Ml < 3xu 2« 2 ^ -^ 2i? tl V. 5 S = 3 C ?• «)• 2 t>: — J HS:^-^ r. .=-.-.-. ;v .> -. -. ■■'- y- ■-; '^ '^^ - MM > , /TX.X.^^M^^; ^^" Z/', A =^ •£ -S -tr ^ :sqx;i;i:^'-i^x. >'.jj^^x;2;2;^;:i5:=^a:^ f^ :.^ I'-r ^^ !:c icS --r :??^?5'5Mrt^35?cu?Jo— ^ — iStJ i-ctouo ci ^ » r. ■^ ij^ -f ^ ^j« -r ■*»' -i" 1/? I'. GC r. r. Ci • T. cic i- r: r: — /^ i - h- 4) e-i OJ Pn 120 V^l i.J/o*^" X.. M ^^^iii\i)*f*' ■U' f// *■'/•<••* vA.r-' ffjii^jniJ-^ 'J'kis map is based upon Kxpediiion as imlicated from a map of the Mack the V. S. C. i^ C. (hart Its 110 V=T- (LiUVdlVd HONOURABLE EDGAR DEWDNFY MINISTER ALFRED BC StLWYN C M G LL D F R S , ^ir.DI RECTOR. UiOl ^I 9.\ V, , t?^i)K:<>MF >howini.« the IU)rTKS ToUowocl In The Menil>ors ol* llu •i '-—i-T-' 1887-1888 ♦ CP Stalvito Mile\s :n-7 -t ^Tt" Part of route 'O'loweH by G. M. Ddwson, LL.D., V G S., &( Route followed by R. G. McConnel!, B.A do Wm Ogilvie, DLS '/'A/s wa/ /.v based uf>on murreys »/aiif lUoinf; th,- />vn>/,'.\.s ,le»ienteit by in/oDiuxtion from a map of the Matkemie Basin hy Rev. E. Petitot, O.M.I ., from the V. S. C. 6^ (,'. ehart of Alaska, iSqo. and f'-orn othe> authorites. r" El?£BJ,tiflW Drnu'i nrnf AnhiiTT'iiphiul h\ C.O.Saiecul . t" E. '.fn/^r- f^hr r^trrc/yfin' of^tSKtrlnu-, CJiif/'Pr-nnffJitrtjrafx. Ijiiinl N A Thf (lii'i.iutriA- rnarkt c/ SJuw-t /.. 'J , are Liu/j7id:Ae> ^ t^rc- a ^TCi/^ti o/'J'a/*//«4>' to / Lftch.. anu n^ronifinny Fart J). Aiuuial Hc/Jort. Vol . IV, !S9(>, hy R (i. A/cCoruuUl , B.J.