l-lailioai const riicii'd for (iriftiiig down Red Deer River. A twenty-two-foot sweep at 

 each end, like a long oar, served in guiding tlie boat out of the way of rocks in tlie course. 

 This was eventually converted into a houseboat because of excessive rains and dearth of 

 camping places along the shores 



FOSSIL HUNTING BY BOAT IN CANADA 



Ihl Ihtniinn Brnirii 

 Photographs by the .Vullio/ 



44 



H 



( )W do you know where to look for fossils? " is a common question. 

 In general it may he answered that the surface of North America 

 lias heen pretty well explored by government surxeys and scien- 

 tific expeditions and the geologic age of the larger areas determined. Most 

 imi)()rtant in determining the geologic sequence of the earth's strata are the 

 fossil remains of animal and plant life. A grouping of distinct species of 

 fossils correlated with stratigrapliic ciiaracters in the rocks determines 

 these subdivisions. When a collection of fossils is desired to represent a 

 certain period, exploring parties are sent to these known areas. Sometimes 

 however, chance information leads up to most important discoveries, such 

 as resulted from the work of the past two seasons in Alberta, Canada. 



A visitor to the Museum, Mr. J. I>. Wagner, while examining our mineral 

 collections saw the large bones in the Reptile Hall and remarked to the 

 Curator of Mineralogy that he had seen many similar bones near his ranch 

 in the Red Deer Canon of Alberta. After talking some time an invitation 

 was extended to the writer to visit iiis home and prospect the canon. 

 Accordingly in the fall of 1909 a preliminary trip was made to the locality. 



From Didsl)ury, a little town north of Calgary, the writer drove eastward 

 ninety miles to the Red Deer liixcr through a portion of the newly opened 

 grain belt of Alberta, destined in the near future to produce a large part 



273 



