NOTES ON MINERAL FUELS OF CANADA. ELLS. 67 



On the Pacific coast the ' coal-beaTiog jrp.cks again change 

 their character and belong to the Cretaceous series. Here, as 

 at Vancouver , island,. ,are the large mines of Wellington, 

 Naiiaimo, Comox, and Lady smith, in which area large seams 

 occur, some of which, as in the Wellington district, have been 

 worked extensively for nearly forty years. These not only snp- 

 , ply the fnels for the Pacific division of British Columbia, but 

 are shipped very largely to the cities on -the American coast, as 

 far south as San Francisco. These coals are of the bituminous 



a. . . ; -,;. ... 



variety, generally of excellent quality, and well adapted for 

 coking. Further north, on Graham island, of the Queen Char- 

 lotte group, both the anthracite, bituminous a'nd lignite varieties 

 are found. The former, although exploited at intervals for 

 ... nearly forty years, has never been found sufficiently firm to be 

 mined at a profit. The alteration at this place from the lignite 

 or bituminous coal has evidently been due to heat induced by 

 pressure of the beds agai'nst the igneous rocks which form high 

 mountains to the west, whereby the rocks and contained coals 

 have been crushed, while dikes of newer rocks have also pene- 

 trated the series. Smaller deposits of anthracite have been found 

 in the coal basin of the interior, occurring under like conditions. 



In this interior basin of Graham island, however, large 

 deposits of high grade bituminous coal occur which outcrop at 

 .several places in beds of great thickness. This part of the 

 island gives promise when opened up, of becoming one of the 

 mpst important coal fields of the Pacific slope. The containing 

 rocks of both the bituminous and anthracite varieties are of 

 Cretaceous age, while the eastern part of the island is occupied 

 by Tertiary rocks, in which are found seams of lignite, of good 

 thickness. 



Still further north, in the Yukon district, large deposits of 

 lignite have been found along the Klondike and several other 

 streams. These have been mined to a small extent locally, and 

 will, doubtless, become important as the countrv is opened up. 



