70 NOTES ON MINERAL FUELS OF CANADA. ELLS. 



locality it was struck in immense volume in connection with tlin 

 borings made some years ago by the Dominion government for 

 petroleum, the rush of the gas being so great that the borings 

 were suspended. At this place it has been constantly escaping for 

 the last ten years, no attempt having been made till recently to 

 check the enormous waste that has been going on for all this time. 

 As the area, however, is entirely uninhabited, and ; at a long dis- 

 tance from settlement, this waste has hitherto been of less im- 

 portance than if the area were near commercial centres. It is 

 probable that in the near future, natural gas will play a very 

 irhportant part in the economy of the new provinces of the west 

 and will be the great source of light and heat, as well as of 

 power, for many of the cities of the plains. 



It is also to be expected that in certain portions of the plains 

 country, east of the Rocky Mountains, properly located borings 

 will disclose the presence of oil-fields in that area. The oil 

 fields of Colorado, as at Florence and Boulder, are situated on 

 rocks practically of the same horizon, the oil there being, found 

 in the Pierre shales, which underlie the lignite-bearing 

 La-ramie sandstone. The Florence oil field has been a pro- 

 ducer continuously for more than twenty years, several of the 

 wells having yielded enormously. Up to the present time, 

 in the western part of Canada but slight attempts have been 

 made to find oil, with the exception of the borings made 

 under government management some ten to twelve year,s 

 ago, in the area along the upper North Saskatchewan- and 

 Athabaska rivers. Ai neither of these places, however, did 

 the borings reach the supposed oil-bearing strata, owing 

 largely to the great flow of gas encountered. 



Peat. 



Peat is found in large quantities in nearly all parts of the 

 Dominion, and about forty years ago attempts were made to 

 utilize certai'n deposits in Quebec in the manufacture of a peat 

 fuel. As the product was simply pulped and air-dried, wi thorn 



