'RAL CANADA PART V. 



THE ERIE AND HURON DISTRICT. 



This district occupied throughout by comparatively undisturbed 

 limestones and other strata of the Upper Silurian and Devonian 

 series, with overlying Drift clays and sands, and more recent super- 

 ficial deposits is essentially an agricultural area of great fertility. 

 It lies immediately west of the Lake Ontario District, and is sepa- 

 rated from the latter by the great Niagara escarpment which runs, as 

 stated above, from the Niagara River by Queenston, Thorold, 

 Grimsby, Hamilton, Dundas, Georgetown, etc., to Cabot's Head on 

 Georgian Bay. On the south, the district is bounded by Lake Erie ; 

 and on the west by Lake Huron. The greater portion of its area 

 forms an elevated table-land of from 1,000 to 1,200 feet above the 

 sea. Along its north-eastern edge the ground rises in places to an 

 altitude of nearly 1,600 feet ; but it slopes gradually towards Lake 

 Erie on the south (565 feet above the sea), and towards Lake Huron 

 (578 feet above the sea-level) in the west. Its surface, except where 

 cut by river- valleys, is generally even ; and the district presents a 

 marked contrast to the lower region of Lake Ontario by the almost 

 total absence of inland bodies of water. It is traversed, however, 

 by many important rivers, and especially by the Grand River, flowing 

 into Lake Erie ; the Thames, flowing into Lake St. Clair ; and the 

 Maitland and Saugeen, flowing into Lake Huron. The eastern and 

 north-eastern boundary, along the great escarpment, is also cut through 

 by numerous smaller streams. These enter the Lake Ontario District, 

 consequently, through deep ravines, many of which are of a very 

 wild and picturesque character. 



The strata of the district consist, in its more eastern portions, of 

 Upper Silurian representatives, with various Devonian formations in 

 the west. They follow each other (in ascending order) from north- 

 east to south-west, generally, and comprise : The Niagara formation 

 (with some Upper Clinton beds), the Guelph formation, the Onondaga 

 or Gypsiferous, and the Eurypterus or Lower Helderberg formations, 

 of the Upper Silurian series ; and the Oriskany, Corniferous, 

 Hamilton or Lambton, and Chemung-Portage formations, of Devonian 

 age. These strata, although practically undisturbed, are affected by 

 several moderate anticlinals running across the more central part of 

 the district in a general east and west or south-west direction ; and 

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