156 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



This clay seems to have little or no lime or magnesia in it, possesses 

 a fine compact texture and may yet be of economic value as a supply 

 for the manufacture of pottery. 



Leaving the mine and passing down the river, the banks do not 

 present the appearance of an escarpment, but immense piles of gravel ; 

 these great heaps or hills are covered with grass and the deposits 

 seem to have assumed this condition, long after those seen in the 

 vicinity of the mine. These large mounds of gravel are no doubt 

 comparatively recent in their origin, glacial or post-glacial, while 

 those of the mine are decidedly Cretaceous, belonging to the Belly 

 River series of that system. 



IRVINE RAVINE. 



Proceeding by rail eastward from Medicine Hat for a distance of 

 20 miles you reach Irvine station, on the Canadian Pacific Railway. 

 There is very little at this point calculated to prove of interest to a 

 geologist, but on looking to the south, about two miles, in the 

 distance a comparatively high hill appears, with a pecular flat-like 

 summit. This indicates the entrance to a ravine or " Coulee " of 

 more than ordinary attraction. At almost any point it teems with 

 interest to a student of palaeontology ; if he desires, and time permits, 

 it can be followed up until the Cypi'ess Hills are reached ; a place 

 where during the past few years members of the Geological Survey 

 have made some startling discoveries regarding the extinct fauna of 

 the North-west. 



In the Spring of '83, Mr. Lawson, Manager of the Medicine Hat 

 Coal Mine, while prospecting for coal in the region of Irvine, dis- 

 covered the remains of what appeai'ed to be an animal allied to reptiles 



On his return to Winnipeg, he was interviewed by a reporter, 

 and a short notice in the daily papers appeared, describing the 

 pecular remains, found among those lonely hills. In July of the 

 same year, Sir William Dawson, while visiting the North-west 

 heard of this discovery, and set out to find the remains after having 

 obtained directions as to their location from Mr. Lawson ; but his 

 efi'orts were in vain. On his return to Winnipeg, having learned 

 that the writer was pi'eparing to search the same locality in August, 

 he kindly gave the sketch of the locality that he had used, and 



