228 H. T. H. BRUMELL GAS AND PETROLEUM IN ONTARIO. 



Portage group immediately overlie a limestone bed which constitutes the 



upper stratum of the Hamilton formation. This series of rocks consists 

 of alternating beds of limestone and gray shales ( known locally as " soap- 

 stone ") and has a thickness, according to a drilling made at Kingstone's 

 mills, Lambton county, of 3% feet. Dr Hunt* speaks of this well as 

 being important in showing the thickness in Ontario of the middle and 

 upper Devonian, which, if we add to the 396 feet found here the 213 

 feet of rocks belonging to the Portage found at Corunna, is 609 feet. 

 The record of the well at Kingstone's mills is as follows: 



Clay 14 feet, 



Black shale 50 feet, P. >rtage. 



Shales, soft, and limestone 39(5 feet, Hamilton. 



Limestone, hard 44 feet, Coin i tennis. 



At Petrolea the Hamilton is only 296 feet thick, as follows: 



Limestone (" upper lime ") 40 feet. 



Shale (" upper soapstone") . . 130 " 



* Limestone ("middle lime") 15 " 



Shale ('* lower soapstone ") 43 " 



Limestone (" lower lime ") 68 " 



At Oil Springs, 8 miles southward, the formation shows evidence of 

 having thinned out, the thickness there being only 240 feet according to 

 the following record of many wells drilled on the eastern side of the field : 



Limestone (" upper lime ") 35 feet, 



Shale (" upper soapstone ") 101 " 



Limestone (" middle lime ") 27 " 



Shale (" lower soapstone ") 17 " 



Limestone (" lower lime ") ahout 00 " 



Corniferous. — Underlying the so-called lower lime of the Hamilton is a 

 series of bituminous limestones constituting the Corniferous formation — 

 the source of the oil of Lambton county. Regarding the distribution of 

 this formation in Ontario, the following description is given :f 



"The surface occupied by this formation in western Canada is probably between 

 0,000 and 7,000 square miles. A great part of this, however, is deeply covered with 

 drift, so that the exposures are comparatively few. To the eastward this forma- 

 tion is hounded by the outcrops already assigned to the underlying strata, the 

 limits of which in many parts have as yet been hut imperfectly traced. The whole 

 of the province to the west and south of this line belongs to the Corniferous forma- 



* Report of Progress, Geo]. Survey of Canada, 1866, p. 251. 

 fGeology of Canada, 1863, p. 362. 



