THE 



CANADIAN NATURALIST 



AND 



^uuvtcvly f ouvuat of J^cicucr* 



THE LIGNITE FORMATIONS OF THE WEST. 



By George M. Dawson, 

 Assoc. R- S. M., Geologist B. N. A. Boundarj' Commission. 



The true Carboniferous formation aud that with which the 

 'greater part of the valuable coals of the world are associated, and 

 which is so largely developed in the eastern half of the American 

 continent, from Nova Scotia southward, does not appear in the 

 western prairie region. Its north-western border lies in the 

 eastern part of the Territory of Nebraska and in Iowa, where 

 the thickly wooded country of the east has already passed into 

 the prairie land of the west. Here, however, this formatioDy 

 depended on for fuel in so many parts of the world, to a great 

 extent loses its coal-bearing character. In Nebraska it has now 

 been pretty thoroughly explored, both by surface examination 

 und by boring, and yet has only yielded coal in very sparino* 

 quantities. Coal seams of 18 inches and 2 feet are described, 

 and one which has been pretty extensively worked in the vicinity 

 of Nebraska city, is not more than 8 inches in thickness. Such 

 coal beds as these would not be workable in England or on the 

 continent of Europe, with all the cheap and skilled labour there 

 at command, and in a new country like Nebraska are only ren- 

 dered so by the extreme scarcity of wood for fuel, the coal, such 

 as it is, being sold at prices ranging from about 40c. to 80c. per 

 bushel. 



Hayden and other United States geologists, who have examined 

 this region, consider it to be upon the western lip or margin of 

 the true coal formation. Even in the State of Iowa the coal 

 lieds are of comparatively small importance. The formation is 

 Vol. VII. Q jSTo, 5^, 



