THE GREAT COAL-FIELDS. 207 



and Eed Deer Elvers to the south. A section of 

 it appears in the cliff of the river-bank at Edmonton, 

 where it is used for the forge. The lignite strata 

 have been thus observed at numerous points, scat- 

 tered over more than ten degrees of latitude, but 

 invariably in nearly the same longitude. 



A line drawn from Mackenzie Biver to the point 

 where Eed Deer Eiver joins the South Saskatchewan 

 would give the line of coal formation observed with 

 tolerable accuracy. These coal-fields are of enormous 

 extent, and will doubtless one day form a large 

 element of wealth in this richly-endowed country 

 of the Saskatchewan. 



After investigating the coal, we set to work to 

 wash for gold in the sand bars, and were rewarded 

 by finding what miners call "the colour," i.e., a few 

 specks of the finest gold-dust which remain with the 

 black sand left behind when the rest of the " dirt" is 

 washed away. 



For the next two or three days the country pre- 

 sented the same slightly undulating character, thickly 

 wooded, with hardly a single break, and without 

 any eminence from which a view could be obtained. 

 The only sound ground was on the low narrow 

 ridges which separated the wider shallow valleys. 

 These latter are occupied by " muskegs," or level 

 swamps, the surface of which is covered with a 

 mossy crust five or six inches in thickness, while 

 a thick growth of pines and the fallen timber add 

 to the difiiculties of the road. No one but a Hudson's 

 Bay voyageur would dream of taking horses into such 

 a region. 



