1864.] DR. T. STERRY HUNT ON PEAT. 437 



made to introduce compressed peat as a combustible, for the gene- 

 ration of steam and for domestic purposes. 



The principal deposits of peat which are as yet known in Can- 

 ada, will now be noticed. It is to be remarked, that, with the 

 exception of a partial trial made of the peat near Chambly, none 

 of these deposits have ever yet been worked ; and that it is only in 

 a few localities that the thickness of the peat has been deteranned 

 by pits, or by borings. Beginning to the westward, a deposit of 

 peat occurs on the twelfth lot of the fourth and fifth ranges of 

 Sheffield; where it overlies a bed of marl already described, and 

 extends over three or four hundred acres. The average thickness 

 of the peat is about four feet, and it is said to be of superior 

 quality. In the level region between the St. Lawrence and 

 Ottawa rivers, described in " Geology of Canada," page 8, 

 several large peat-bogs occur ; but from their nature, the vic- 

 inity has been avoided by settlers, and they are therefore diffi- 

 cult of access. There is said to be a considerable area of peat 

 in the rear of the seigniories of Vaudreuil and Rigaud ; and 

 also in Caledonia, where its thickness does not appear to exceed 

 three or four feet. Peat occurs at the sources of the Pain River 

 in Roxburgh, Osnabruck, and Finch ; and also in Clarence, Cum- 

 berland, and Gloucester. In the third, fourth, and fifth ranges of 

 the latter township is a tract known as the Mer Bleue, which con- 

 sists of two long peat-bogs, separated by a narrow ridge of higher 

 land, and occupying each about 2500 acres. These deposits were 

 sounded in many places, with a rod, to a depth of twenty-one feet, 

 without finding bottom ; in other parts, the peat was from eight to 

 fifteen feet in thickness. This tract is situated only three miles from 

 the Ottawa, and is about 280 feet above th© level of the sea. Three 

 large areas of peat, of from 1000 to 3000 acres each, occur in 

 Nepean and Goulbourn ; one of them to the east, and two to the 

 west, of the village of Richmond. It is also found on the third 

 and eighth ranges of Beckwith, to the east of Mississippi Lake; and 

 an area of about 3000 acres of peat occurs in Westmeath, in the 

 rear of front A, and from the first to the fifth range behind it. In 

 the ninth and tenth ranges of Huntley, there are about 2500 acres 

 of peat ; which in some parts has a thickness of eight or ten feet, 

 while in other parts no bottom was found at a depth of fifteen feet. 

 It is probable that peat may be met with in many other localities 

 throughout this region. 



On the north side of the Ottawa, three small areas of peat have 

 Vol. I. DD No. 6. 



