﻿2 SMITHSONIAN M ISCKLLANEOUS COI-LECTIONS \"0r.. 76 



Columbia to the southern end of the Stanford Range between the 

 Kootenav River and Cokmibia Lake, which is at the head of the great 

 Cohnnbia River, which here flows northwesterly in what is popularly 

 known as the Rocky ]\Iountain Trench. 



The valley of the Columbia was found to be largely underlain by 

 the limestones and shales of the Alons formation of the Ozarkian sys- 

 tem, and the strata have been greatly upturned, faulted and folded 

 prior to the great pre-glacial period of erosion that cut out the Rocky 

 ]\Iountain Trench for several hundred miles in a north-northwest 

 and south-southeast direction. 



The Mons formation is upwards of 3,800 feet in thickness in the 

 Beaverfoot-Brisco-Stanford Range on the eastern side of the Colum- 

 bia River \"alley, and contains four well-developed fossil faunas that 

 indicate its position to be between the Upper Cambrian and the 

 (Jrdovician systems of this and other portions of the continent 



(fig-5)- 



A great development of Lower Ordovician was discovered near the 

 head of Sinclair Canyon, and cliiTs of massive Upper Cambrian lime- 

 stones were recognized at several localities beneath the Mons forma- 

 tion. Collections were made of corals and other fossils from the 

 Silurian limestones that occur above the Ordovician shales. 



This is a wonderful region for the geologist to work in as the 

 numerous canyons and mountain ridges give access to many of the 

 formations from base to summit. Beneath the great series of lime- 

 stones, shales and sandstones there are 16,000 feet or more of older 

 stratified rocks that form the main range of the Rockies which are 

 so wonderfully exjiosed along the line of the Canadian Pacific Rail- 

 way from Banff westward over the Continental Divide to the central 

 portions of the beautiful Kicking Horse Canyon east of Golden. 



It was intended to review some of the work of 1921-22 north of 

 Lake Louise near Baker Lake, but a heavy snow storm drove the 

 party back to the railway on the i8th of September, just after a day 

 of taking photographs. The coming of the storm was indicated by 

 the presence of large numbers of mountain sheep and goat in the up])er 

 limits of the forest, as well as the presence of black and grizzly bear 

 lower down on the moimtain slopes, and wisps of va])or trailing to 

 leeward from the mountain i)eaks. When the mists and clouds broke 

 away foiu" davs later, a tliick mantle of snow covered the ridges and 

 peaks well down into the forest covered slopes. A few of the photo- 

 graphs taken neur liaker Lake are illustrated by figures i, 2, and 3. 



