78 GLA.CIAL AND SURFACE GEOLOGY OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 



phenomena are particularly well-marked, or on any large scale. At Chief 

 Mountain Lake, 4,213 feet above the sea, near its northern end, a " collection 

 of rounded and hummocky hills " is thought by him to prove the former 

 presence of large glaciers, although the hard limestone over which it must 

 have pa.ssed showed no signs of striation. The only place where glacial 

 striation was actually observed was in the Valley of the Kootanie Pass, where 

 the surface of the hard green slate had markings upon it coinciding in direc- 

 tion with the main trouo;h of the vallev. Moraines are described as existing 

 farther up the valley, neither the locality nor the elevation being given 

 with any degree of precision * 



From the character of the evidence presented by Mr. Dawson, together 

 with that furnished by Dr. Hector, it may be j^retty safely concluded that 

 the Rocky Mountains in their extension north of the parallel of 49" do not 

 exhibit any very remarkable indications of former glaciation. This inference 

 would be corroborated by the account furnished by Mr. Selwyn, Chief of the 

 Canada Geological Survey, of an expedition to the head of Peace River, at 

 a considerably higher latitude than the region visited by the Palliser Expe- 

 dition. Mr. Selwyn, as previously mentioned, saw no glaciers or permanent 

 snow in tliat region, neither does he make any mention of traces of former 

 glaciation in tliat portion of the chain examined. At all events, there is no 

 evidence anywhere in the Rocky Mountains, either to the north or to the 

 south of the boundary line, of a transportation of detrital material in any 

 general direction independent of the present topography. 



Between the Rocky Mountains and tlie Cascade Range in British Columbia 

 is an extensive area of country drained by the Fraser and Columbia rivers 

 and their numerous branches, both of which streams run, for a long distance 

 from their sources, in a northwesterly direction, then turn abruptly and pursue 

 a parallel course in the opposite direction.! The region thus included be- 

 tween the two principal divisions of the Cordilleras is far from having Ijeen 

 mapped with any approach to accuracy, but its most striking topographical 

 features are pretty well known in a general way. It is l)y no means a level 

 country ; on the contrary, it is everywhere rugged and even mountainous, 

 although the irregular ranges do not appear to attain anywhere an elevation 

 equal to that of the dominating points of either the Cascade or the Rocky 



* Report on the Geology and Resources of the Region in the Vicinity of tlie Forty-ninth Parallel. Montreal, 

 1S75. p. 245. 



t The Columbia River rises near the parallel of 50°, awl runs northwest to a little beyond 52°, where it joins 

 the Canoe River, coming from e.xactly the opposite direction and heading near 53°. 



