62 NOTES ON MINERAL FUELS OF CANADA. ELLS. 



plains and in the valleys scattered through the sea of mountains 

 in British Columbia, as well as along the Pacific coast, our 

 knowledge even forty years ago was exceedingly limited. 



The object of the present paper is to direct attention to the 

 large supplies of this fuel which are found in all parts of the 

 Dominion, and which are suitable for the generation of light, 

 heat and power. The substances available for this purpose 

 include, in addition to the several varieties of coal which ra'nge 

 from anthracite to the newest lignite, such minerals as anthrax- 

 olite, albertite, oil-shale, petroleum, natural gas a'nd peat. 



Coal, etc. 



The coals of the Atlantic provinces have been mined for 

 nearly or quite a century. They belong to the Carboniferous 

 period, and in point of age contrast strongly with the immense 

 deposits found o'n the great western plains, along the eastern 

 slopes of the Rocky Mountains, and further west on the Pacific 

 coast, which belong in part to Cretaceous and in part to Tertiary 

 rocks. 



The eastern deposits have been described in numerous 

 reports and papers, both in governmental and scientific pub- 

 lications. The principal areas, considered from the economic 

 standpoint, are in Xova Scotia, where at least four well-defined 

 coal-basins occur. Of these the most easterly, known as the 

 Sydney area, is divided into several portions, in which a number 

 of seams are found, aggregating probably not far from fifty 

 feet of coal. This basin probably represents the western margi'n 

 of a great Carboniferous area which extends beneath the inter- 

 vening broad strait which separates Cape Breton from New- 

 foundland, since in the south-western part of the latter province 

 a well-defined coal basin also occurs. The seams of the Sydney 

 basin exte?nd seaward, and have been worked for many years 

 beneath the water, the extension in this direction forming a 

 coal area of great economic importance. 



