288 MINES 



Although the mineral resources of Canada are remarkably rich and varied, mining 

 operations have not yet been adequately carried out. Iron ores of great value, chiefly 

 magnetic oxide and red haematite, are abundant in the Laurentian rocks at several 

 points on the Ottawa, along the Rideau Canal, and near Marmora ; but the want of 

 coal has prevented their due development. Good iron ore is also found in many of 

 tin- eastern townships, and bog ore has been smelted at the Radnor Forges, Batiscan. 

 Copper ores are worked in Huronian rocks on the north-eastern shore of Lake Huron, 

 and the ores of the eastern townships have been worked at Harvey's Hill, in Leeds, 

 and at the Acton mine, now exhausted. Gold workings have been established on the 

 Chaudiere and its tributaries, whilst the metal was at one time worked at the 

 Richardson mine, Hastings Co., where it was found curiously associated with lignite 

 Veins of galena are found in the Laurentian rocks, but are networked. Among the non 

 metallic minerals of the Dominion may be mentioned the fine deposits of phosphaU, 

 of lime, or apatite, and mica. Petroleum is widely distributed in certain localities. 



Coal seams of great value are actively worked in the provinces of New Brunswick 

 and Nova Scotia ; whilst gold is yielded by the quartz-veins of Waverley and other 

 districts in Nova Scotia. 



Before quitting America, it should be mentioned that the West India Islands offer 

 indications of mineral. Many cupriferous veins have been explored in Jamaica. 

 Copper ore and molybdenite occur at Virgin Gorda ; and Cuba has for years been 

 remarkable for the richness and abundance of its copper ores. The principal mine is 

 the Cobre, worked on an extensive scale. The lodes, which have been very large at 

 shallow depths, course E. and W. through greenstone, and conglomeritic rock. The 

 Santiago mines have also yielded a large amount of ore. 



To R. W. Raymond, Ph.D., we are indebted for the following : 



Professor W. P. Blake, in a note to his ' Catalogue of California Minerals,' pointed 

 out that the mining districts of the Pacific slope are arranged in parallel zones, fol- 

 lowing the prevailing direction of the mountain ranges. This interesting generaliza- 

 tion has been more fully illustrated and connected with the geological history of the 

 country by Mr. Clarence King, who sums up the observed phenomena as follows : 



' The Pacific coast-ranges upon the west carry quicksilver, tin, and chromic iron. 

 The next belt is that of the Sierra Nevada and Oregon Cascades, which, upon their 

 west slope, bear two zones, a foot-hill chain of copper mines, and a middle line of 

 gold deposits. These gold-veins, and the resultant placer mines, extend far into 

 Alaska, characterised by the occurrence of gold in quartz, by a small amount of that 

 metal which is entangled in iron sulphurets, and by occupying splits in the upturned 

 mctam orphic strata of the Jurassic age. Lying to the east of this zone, along the 

 east base of the Sierras, and stretching southward into Mexico, is a chain of silver 

 mines, containing comparatively little base metal, and frequently included in volcanic 

 i-ocks. Through Middle Mexico, Arizona, Middle Nevada, and Central Idaho is 

 another line of silver mines, mineralised with complicated association of the base 

 metals, and more often occurring in older rocks. Through New Mexico, Utah, and 

 Western Montana, lies another zone of argentiferous galena lodes. To the east, 

 again, the New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana gold-belt is an extremely 

 well-defined and continuous chain of deposits.' . 



These seven longitudinal zones or chains of mineral deposits must not, in my 

 opinion, be held to constitute a complete classification. The belts of the coast- 

 range and the west slope of the Sierra are well defined, both geologically and topo- 

 graphically ; but it is not so easy to separate into distinct groups the occurrences 

 of gold and silver of the Sierra. For instance, the gold of Eastern Oregon, Idaho, 

 and Western Montana, together with such occurrences in Nevada as those of the 

 Silver Peak and Now Pass districts, and numerous instances of sporadic occurrence 

 of particular ores of silver or argentiferous base metals, cannot be brought within 

 the classification above given. Either more zones must be recognised, or a greater 

 mineralogical variety must be acknowledged in those already laid down. The latter 

 alternative is, I think, the more reasonable. According to the principles set forth 

 in a discussion of mineral deposits in my report for 1870, 1 it appears evident that 

 the agencies which affect the general constitution of geological formations are far 

 wider in their operation than those which cause the formation of fissures ; and that 

 the causes influencing the filling of fissures are still more local in their peculiari- 

 ties than those which form the fissures themselves. Thus, of the area covered by 

 rocks of a given epoch, more or less uniform in lithological character, only a small 

 portion may have been exposed to conditions allowing deposits of useful minerals, 

 even when such deposits are contemporaneous, as in the case of coal. Still more 



1 Statistics of Minos and Mining in the States and Territories west of the Rocky Mountains,' by 

 K. W. Raymond, U. 8. Commissioner of Mining Statistics, 



