4 



178 The Ottawa Naturatist. [November 



on a long journey across the plains and down a river where very 

 few white men have; been ; and which with regard to its fossil 

 fauna and flora, is scarcely known. While waiting for a portion 

 of our camp equipment, Mackenzie and I spent a day or so in 

 examining the rocks about a mile from the C. P. R. depot and 

 within a few feet of the Elbow Riv<;r. This is our first exposure 

 of the Laramie formation, a divison of the great geological column 

 which forms the upper part of the Cretaceous and the lower part 

 ot the Tertiary. The Laramie rocks we were about to examine 

 are composed of fine and coarse sandstones, conglomerates, ^ands, 

 silts, clays and lignite coals, detailed descriptions of which may 

 be found in the reports of the Geological Survey of Canada. We 

 find here, as I have said, our first exposure of the Laramie rocks, 

 an escarpment called the " Hog's Back." It is a cliff of about 

 100 feet in height; the upper part is a coarse gravel and the lower 

 portion a fine grained yellowish sandstone, which has been used 

 in the construction of buildings. It is in this sandstone 

 we find our first fossils, remarkably well preserved plants, 

 characteristic forms of the Upper Laramie formation. The rocks 

 here have acted beautifully as a botanical press, for some of the 

 leaves are as perfect as when they fell from the trees untold ages 

 ago. Sir J. W. Dawson says (Trans. Royal Soc. Can., Sec IV., 

 1889); " They belong to two species, Populus Richardsonii, and 

 Quercus platiiinay The latter species is represented by leaves of 

 great size, one of which is twelve inches in length without the 

 petiole. These leaves are not unlike the leaves of our largest species 

 of poplar, and it is supposed that the climate at the time when they 

 grew was similar to that of the present day. These rare examples 

 of the fossil flora of our Laramie rocks may be seen in the cases 

 of the Geological Museum, Ottawa. But we must leave Calgary 

 with all its interesting associations of Indian and prairie life and 

 start on our journey. We have 100 miles to make before reach- 

 ing Mackenzie's farm on the banks of the Red Deer River, about 

 eight miles below the Edmonton and Calgary crossing. 



With a good stout wagon, two horses, provisions for two 

 months, ammunition, guns and camp equipment, we leave Cal- 

 gary at 2 p.m., June loth, take the Edmonton trail and at 8 p.m. 

 arrive at our first stopping place — McPherson's, which is situated 



