66 NOTES ON MINERAL FUELS OF CANADA. ELLS. 



sively mined for local use at Edmonton on the North Saskat- 

 chewan, and at several places nearer the United States bound- 

 ary. 



Passing westward across the broad chain of the Rocky 

 Mountains there follows a great belt of rocks, presenting a 

 number of formations ranging from the Carboniferous down 

 into the pre-Cambrian, in which 110 coals may be expected. But 

 about 200 miles east of Vancouver in a direct line, or near 

 Sicamous on the Canadian Pacific railway, coal-bearing rocks 

 again make their appearance. These are of a still more recent 

 date than those of the plains, being for the most part of Tertiary 

 age. Owing, however, to greater alteration, the lignite charac- 

 ter of the contained coals has been changed, so that the fuels 

 from these deposits, which occur for the most part as basins 

 resting 011 igneous rocks, are now in the form of true coals, and 

 in many cases form a fuel of great value. The contained coals 

 are sometimes of ' large extent, ranging in thickness from thin 

 seams up to great; beds of twenty feet, or even in some cases of 

 more than sixty feet in thickness. 



Among these important deposits may be mentioned those of 

 the Nicola and Similkameen valleys, lying to the south of the 

 Canadian Pacific railway; of the North Thompson, 40 'miles 

 north of Kamloops, and of the Marble Canon a few miles north- 

 west of Ashcroft. Further north, numerous deposits of coal are 

 found, among the most important of these being the recently 

 discovered areas in the Bulkley valley, south of the Skeena 

 river, and not far from the projected line of the Grand Trunk 

 Pacific railwav, where large seams of high grade bitumin- 

 ous coals and semi-anthracites are exposed. These promise to 

 be of great value on the advent of the railway. Along the upper 

 waters of the Peace river, also, several large seams of fine 

 coal have recently been located ; but at present these are not 

 available owing to distance from transportation. 



