124 STEVENSON— INTERRELATIONS OF FOSSIL FUELS. 



portant owing to thinning of the beds ; it has not been recognized in 

 Manitoba. 



In Alberta, the Kootenai is fully exposed only in the more dis- 

 turbed portion of the Rocky Mountains area and the more im- 

 portant coal deposits, for the most part, are west from the Moun- 

 tains in British Columbia. Mackenzie^^^ measured about 700 feet of 

 Kootenai on Oldman river in southern Alberta, in the Foothills 

 region. The rocks mostly arenaceous. An overlying sandstone 

 formation was assigned to the Dakota. A Coal Measures group, 

 about 200 feet thick, is in the upper part of the Kootenai, where the 

 sandstones increase in coarseness. Near Blairmore, five coal seams 

 were examined ; the total is about 40 feet, but two of the beds are 

 poor and shaly ; elsewhere the quantity of coal is less. 



The Crowsnest coal field^"° is farther west, in and beyond the 

 Mountains, and the greater part is in British Columbia. In Crows- 

 nest pass, within Alberta, McEvoy gives a section of 4,736 feet, 

 which he regarded as wholly Kootenai. The coal bearing portion 

 begins at 1,170 feet from the base and is 1,847 f^et. The coal is 

 198 feet, somewhat less than in the main field farther west. Mc- 

 Learn^-^ states that the lower part of the Kootenai in this region 

 contains abundant remains of plants and erect stems of trees. 



Dowling^^^ examined a small area of Kootenai on the North Sas- 

 katchewan river, about the S5th degree and near the iiSth meridian. 

 There, behind the Brazeau Hills, he saw 5 coal seams within a ver- 

 tical distance of 631 feet. The lowest and highest, with somewhat 

 more than 12 feet thickness, yield worthless coal, but the second 

 and third, with about 23 feet of coal, are good, though the ash is 

 rather high, being from 12 to 15 per cent.: the grade is semi- 

 bituminous. 



Malloch^-^ reported upon an extensive district farther west, on 

 the headwaters of the Saskatchewan, Bighorn and Brazeau Rivers, 

 and within the outlying ridges of the Rocky Mountains. The thick- 

 ness of Kootenai is 3,658 feet, which is unexpectedly great, as 



^25 J. D. Mackenzie, Summ. Rep. Geo!. Survey, Canada, pp. 239, 243, 244. 



126 J. McEvoy, Ann. Rep., Vol. XIII., 1900, Pt. A, pp. 84-88. 



127 F. H. McLearn, Summ. Rep., 1915, p. iii. 



128 D. B. Dowling, Summ. Rep. for 1913, pp. 150, 151. 



129 G. S. Malloch, Memoir 9-2, 191 1, pp. 25, 31-33, 52, 53, 59, 60. 



