[ezcs] THE CARBONIFEROUS BASIN IN NEW BRUNSWICK 53 
Along the coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence at many points extend- 
ing south from Miscou Island, which is the extreme north-east point of 
the province, are deposits of soft reddish micaceous sandstone and shales. 
These have not yet been recognized in the interior. They are precisely 
similar to beds seen in Prince Edward Island and along the north shore 
of Nova Scotia at different places in the counties of Cumberland, Col- 
chester and Pictou, where they undoubtedly belong to the upper Car- 
boniferous or as it is sometimes styled the Permian formation. In New 
Brunswick this formation rests upon what has been regarded as the 
Millstone-grit. In that part of Nova Scotia adjacent these soft red 
rocks in places overlie the lower Carboniferous directly. 
In all attempts to solve the question of the occurrence of workable 
coals in this province all such efforts should be efficiently directed and 
the localities for boring should be chosen with due regard to the most 
suitable localities. 
To further test the actual value of the area as a whole and the pos- 
sibility of finding lower and thicker seams it would be desirable that 
several trial borings should be made, of which one should be located 
near the central portion of the Grand Lake basin. One or more should 
also be put down in the area along the Intercolonial railway between 
Newcastle and Moncton at well selected points, and one at least in the 
area north between the former place and Caraquette. These holes, if 
properly located, should be a fair test of the value of these areas. 
A brief summary of the boring operations hitherto attempted in 
this direction, with the results already attained, may be given. Though 
the existence of coal was known in the province more than one hundred 
years ago, attention was especially directed to these deposits by Dr. 
Abraham Gesner during a geological examination of the Grand Lake 
field and of the province generally extending from 1837 to 1842. The 
first attempts to ascertain the existence of lower seams appear to have 
been made in 183% by boring near the head of Grand Lake, the drill, 
which was of the usual percussion type, reaching a depth of 403 feet. 
In this boring the seam usually known as the “surface seam” was 
penetrated at a depth of twenty-one feet, beneath which was a series of 
interstratified shales, sandstones and conglomerates, and at a depth of 
260 feet a deposit of bituminous shale and coal was reported with a total 
thickness of eight feet. Indications of coal were recorded in this boring 
to a further depth of forty-nine feet, the associated rocks being shales 
and sandstones. Beneath this to the bottom of the hole these rocks 
were interstratified with beds of limestone, ironstone and shale, termin- 
ating in what is called slate. 
This boring was located near the Salmon River about eight miles 
northeast of the coal crops in what is known as the Newcastle area. 
