38 The Ottawa Naturalist. [May 



tion being nearly 40 per cent. There are, however, in some of 

 the formations in Ontario and Quebec, notably in the Trenton 

 and Utica, certain black bands of highly bituminous shale which, 

 when ignited in a strong flame will burn till the greater part of 

 the contained bitumen is consumed. The same bituminous 

 character is seen in some of the shales of the lower Carboniferous 

 formation of New Brunswick, and some of these are so rich as 

 to yield over 60 gallons of oil to the ton, and slabs of this 

 material placed on a camp fire will burn for a long time when 

 once ignited. These cannot however be called coal deposits, 

 though they contain so large a quantity of carbonaceous matter, 

 and it would almost be as well to style our mines of graphite 

 coal mines since graphite is also a form of carbon. Thus, the 

 mineral found at Sudbury is certainly a carbon and will burn 

 under certain conditions, but if there is too large an amount of 

 ash it cannot compete readily with the better class of coals 

 which are now used ; and besides the uncertain nature of such 

 deposits, as contrasted with the great beds of the true coals, 

 renders the investment of capital a very risky matter. 



This question of Ontario coal came before the Geological 

 Survey in the early days of its existence, and a rather good 

 story is related in the life of Sir William Logan bearing upon 

 the early operations in this direction. 



Nearly forty years ago boring operations were commenced 

 near Bowmanville with the intention of finding coal there, in 

 spite of the old geologist's advice ; and after some days pieces 

 of the mineral were frequently obtained. This, to many 

 persons, was quite conclusive evidence that a true coal field had 

 been reached. So much were some of these persons impressed 

 with this discovery that one of Sir WilHam's old friends, the 

 sheriff of the district, came down to Montreal, where our offices 

 were then located, and in a great burst of confidence, produced 

 a sample with the request to know if that wasn't coal. Sir 

 William, ever courteous, replied that it was most certainly coal, 

 and a very good sample of Newcastle coal at that. "But," said 

 the sheriff, '■ I saw it taken out of the hole myself." " Ah, yes," 



