GEOLOGY OF THE NORTH-WEST OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 



225- 



is so full of islands that it almost loses its lacustrine character. In 

 this granite country you have gold, with a considerable portion of 

 silver in alloy with it. Metals of various kinds seem to " carry " the 

 gold with them — in some places iron pyrites seem the main associate 

 of the precious metal, in others copper, while at the Huronian mine 

 there is a quantity of telluride of gold. The country is, however, a 

 terra incognita, but little is known of the thickness of the strata or 

 their special characters. One may say that the pioneers of geology, 

 the mining explorers, have only touched the fringe of the district ;. 

 specimens obtained from Indians seem to prove that great riches ma}"^ 

 be found. I hope to give it fui'ther study next season. 



One of the great difficulties in geological work in the Lake Superior 

 country is that one must depend for classification on the petrological 

 character of the rocks ; they seem to contain no fossils, unless the 

 " cannon balls " of the Animikie slates be such. Doubtless the 

 great heat, the enormous pressure, the infiltration of metallic solu- 

 tions, the violence of the agencies existing when the Huronian and 

 Keeweenawan rocks were formed, were reasons why life should not 

 exist or why traces of it should be destroyed, but the presence of 

 particles of graphite and phosphate and the collection of iron into 

 enormous beds seem to lead to the belief that the epoch of their 

 formation vi^as not anterior to the existence of life upon the world. 

 It would add another charm, could we find any fossils in the 10,000' 

 feet of Animikie, or the 50,000 of Keeweenawan rocks. Yet even 

 without thorn, there is a weird fascination about the great lake and its 

 neighboihood, felt by the Indian, the Jesuit, the modern traveller, as 

 well as the geologist, which makes frequent visits there in the high- 

 est degi'ee enjoyable. 



Lines of the Giant range — East of Silver Mountain. 



