34 The Ottawa Naturalist. [May 



5. Rotten rock, contains particles of g"old. 



6. Decomposing" rock surface, uneven, non-glaciated. Gold 

 in the crevices. 



It is in division 4, the lowest member of the stratified beds, 

 that the g'old is found in greates quantity, though often met with 

 in the overlying" series, as well as in the decomposed rock beneath. 

 Where these stratified, oxidized g^ravels rest on the bed rock, the 

 g'old is most plentiful in the lowest strata, and in the clefts, or 

 between the folia, of the rocks. 



The enquiry as to the orig-in of these g-ravels and how they 

 came to be gold-bearingf takes us back to an early period in the 

 g'eological history of the region, — soon after it emerged from 

 beneath the sea and became dry land. Subaerial denudation 

 then began and has been in incessant operation ever since. About 

 this time the larger rivers probably had their origin and began to 

 carve out their valleys. Throughout the long ages which have 

 intervened since, these forces of nature, under varying conditions, 

 have been wearing away and reducing the surface of the land. 

 This reduction has been unequal because of the unequal hardness 

 of the rocks, and the difference in their power of resisting erosion. 

 The degradation from these agencies must have been enormous, 

 amounting to several hundreds, perhaps several thousands, of 

 feet, entirely changing the appearance of the country, the existing 

 residual forms of relief being, in no small degree, the result of this 

 wear and waste of the land surface. Regional and orogenic move- 

 ments have taken place during these ages, the effects ot which 

 are evidenced by uplifts and downthrows in several places and in 

 the dislocation of the river valleys ; but no cessation in the action 

 of the decomposing and transporting forces seems to have occurred 

 till a much later period, when it was interrupted by the ice age. 



Coming down to the Tertiary period we can, perhaps, form 

 some conception of the appearance of this region then, though in 

 an imperfect degree, if we suppose it stripped of all the boulder- 

 clay and overlying deposits. Except on some of the more promi- 

 nent hills and summits, the surface of the rocks would be mantled 

 by a thick sheet of its own debris. On the slopes and in the river 

 valleys this material would be largely denuded and portions of the 

 decomposed rock would form stratified beds, especially where it 



