268 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



regards transport, or of danger from Indians with wbom no treaties had 

 then been made, endeavoured to ascertain in some small way the economic 

 resources of our western heritage, very little enterprise had been shewn 

 in this direction. With the advent of Confederation and the acquisition 

 of the great area lying east of the Kocky mountains a new state of things 

 was inaugurated, and parties of exploration were sent east and west and 

 to the farthest north. With the growth of knowledge arising from the 

 detailed examination of every portion of the Dominion, carried on 

 largely by the officers of the Geological Survey and by the Topographical 

 Branch of the Interior Department, we have now ascertained this fact, 

 that in every province of the Dominion, from Xova Scotia on the east 

 to the most northern confines of British Columbia on the west, including 

 the islands of the Pacific adjacent to the mainland, and extending into 

 the wilds of the Yukon district, coal or mineral fuel in some form and in 

 workable quantity is to be had whenever its exploitation for commercial 

 purposes is required. Even in the Arctic islands and on the adjacent 

 coast of G-reenland large deposits of coal are now known to occur; and 

 although no commercial value can ,at present be attached to the northern 

 deposits on Canadian territory, it may well be supposed that, in the rapid 

 development of our great country, the time may come when even these 

 stores of fuel will be found available for economic purposes. 



It is readily seen therefore that the views once so generally held as 

 to the meagreness of the mineral fuel supply of Canada can no longer 

 be entertained; and while it is not the object of this paper to enter into 

 an abstruse discussion of the origin and mode of occurrence of the 

 several sources of our mineral fuels, a sketch of the character, the loca- 

 tion and possible value of some of the more important deposits may con- 

 tain some points of general interest as regards the country's progress. 



In discussing the question of mineral fuels a number of substances 

 other than coal proper must be considered. The coals themselves include 

 several varieties such as anthracite which is found along the eastern 

 flank of the Eocky Mountains and to some extent on one of the Queen 

 Charlotte group of islands in the northern Pacific ocean; the true or 

 bituminous coals with their resulting coke, and the lignitic coals and 

 lignites which are not capable of being coked, and which vary from 

 brown to black and in quality from a fuel nearly equal to many of the 

 true coals to others not far removed from peat. In addition to these, 

 the minerals anthraxolite, oil-shale, albertite, and petroleum and natural 

 gas must all be regarded as forms of fuel. They are often found in 

 large quantities and at many widely separated points; while immense 

 stores of peat, which in the manufactured or compressed state is now be- 

 coming an important factor as fuel in some parts of the Dominion is 



