64 



NA TURE 



[November iS, i .S97 



Canadian Geological Survey. Considering llie means at its 

 command, and the positively inconvenient extent of ils territory, 

 it is marvellous how much has already been accomplished, and 

 how clearly the general structure of the country has been brought 

 out. It was pleasant to observe, too, how well its work was 

 appreciated among the people for whom it was primarily in- 

 tended, and how in the mining districts the geological maps we 

 carried were quite familiar to the prospectors and mining people 

 generally, who were usually themselves furnished with copies. 



And now for the Plains ! They were a knotty problem for 

 our geo morphologists, not easily to be solved by " base-level- 

 ling" or other familiar methods, and we crossed them without 

 properly understanding them. Considering their elevation, it 

 is clear that they should not remain so fiat ! 



But, taking them as we found them, we passed during the 

 night from the first or Red River Plain to the second steppe, 

 where there are some undulations, and before noon had 

 crossed this also, and had reached that remarkable feature 

 the long ridge-like Missouri Coteau, which is largely made 

 up of glacial detritus, and is probably morainal in origin. 

 We then reached the third steppe, which has an elevation 

 of a little over 2000 feet above sea-level at ils eastern edge, 



[From a photograph by Prof. H. E. A rmstrong. 



Fig. I. — The western or dip-slope of Mount Rundle (9635 feet") ; a faulted and tilted mountain- 

 block, chiefly of Devono-Carbonifcrous Limestones. From Banff Hot Springs. 



but rises gradually to over 4000 feet at the foot of the Rocky 

 Mountains. These plains are all underlain by Laramie and 

 Cretaceous rocks lying flat and undisturbed, containing seams 

 of lignite, and in places yielding natural gas. There were few 

 sections, however, either natural or artificial, excepting in the 

 superficial drift deposits. In these drifts boulders of Lauren- 

 tian rock are very numerous, many hundreds of miles from their 

 source. The third steppe is almost entirely a cattle-ranching 

 country, with a dry climate, as is indicated by the numerous 

 salt lakes visible from the lailway. In crossing it, the Cypress 

 Hills, an outlier of Miocene rocks, broke the horizon to the 

 southward, and the surface generally became more diversified 

 than in the lower steppes. 



At Medicine Hat, in the evening, we crossed the South 

 Saskatchewan, and under ordinary circumstances should have 

 entered the Rocky Mountains during the night. But our director 

 determined that we must make the approach by daylight, and 

 gave orders that our car should be detached in the night at 

 Calgary, where at daybreak the long range of mountain peaks 

 was just in view. A special engine had been conjured from 

 somewhere, and stood ready to take us forward to Banff. By 

 this arrangement, what was for the geologist the most impressive 

 part of the route was seen to full advantage. 



As we approached the mountains we saw how the Laramie 

 and Cretaceous rocks gradually lost their horizonialily, becoming 

 more and more tilted and crumpled as the fool-hills were 

 tiaversed, until — at the entrance to the mountains — the disturb- 

 ances suddenly culminated in a magnificent overthrust, as clearly 

 visible on the bare mountain-wall as in a text-book diagram. By 

 this thrust the Cambrian, Devonian, and Devono Carl)oniferous 

 limestones have bten driven eastward over the broken Cretaceous 

 ."■trata for a horizontal distance estimated by M r R. G. McConnell 

 at seven miles, with a vertical displacement of 15,000 feet. 



We stopped just long enough at Kananaskis to gain a clear 

 impression of this grand section, and were then taken forward 

 into the mountains. 



From this point onward the line afforded a constant succession 

 of studies for the geologist which could not fail to arouse his 

 enthusiasm. The boldly-bedded character of the strata, with 

 the planes often picked out by new snow, the steepness of the 

 slopes, and the absence of vegetation, combined to bring out 

 with the utmost distinctness details of structure which ordinajily 

 can be discovered only after infinite labour and research. 

 Infold and overfold, syncline and anticline, thrust-plane and 

 fault were alike visible. Under such conditions the study of 

 mountain-structure acquired a fresh signi- 

 ficance, and even those of us who before 

 had paid no attention to the subject now 

 pursued it with zest. 



The general character of this region is 

 summed up as follows in the admirable 

 report of Mr. McConnelP : — "This por- 

 tion of the Rocky Mountains ... is 

 characterised in its eastern part by a series 

 of great fractures and thrust faults, in the 

 centre by broad sweeping folds, and in the 

 west by folding and crumpling, accom- 

 panied by the development of cleavage- 

 planes and a limited amount of metamor- 

 phism. Among its other more important 

 features may also be noted the absence of 

 recognisable unconformities, the absence 

 of any of the older crystalline schists, the 

 relatively, smaller amount of disturbance 

 in the central parts of the range than 

 towards the edges, the want of similarity 

 in the sequence of the formations east 

 and west of the axis, and the marked 

 preponderance of calcareous beds between 

 the Middle Cambrian and the Cretaceous." 

 Our course lay up the Bow Valley, 

 which is here carved out of a trough of 

 Cretaceous rocks, wedged in among and 

 apparently overlain by Cambrian strata. 

 In this trough coal is mined, and although 

 on the Plains the coal of Cretaceous age 

 is lignite of poor character, the quality 

 improves as the mountains are ap- 

 proached, until in this district both bitu- 

 minous coal and anthracite are obtained. 

 Not only in geological interest but also in the beauty of its 

 mountain scenery the Canadian Pacific is undoubtedly far 

 superior to any other line crossing the North American con- 

 tinent. We wfere here within the limits of Canada's Rocky 

 Mountain National Park, and the views we now obtained 

 delighted us. Arriving at the well-known tourist centre, 

 Banff, about noon, and establishing ourselves at the large new 

 C. P. R. Hotel, where we found Prof. John Macoun of the 

 Canadian Survey awaiting us, we set about to make the best of 

 our time. A ridge, known as Sulphur Mountain, rising 3000 or 

 4000 feet above the valley to the west of the hotel, proved attrac- 

 tive to the more energetic of our party, and although Prof. 

 Macoun had already made the ascent earlier in the day, he 

 expressed his readiness to start again, and undertook the leader- 

 ship of the group. For the others, who were content to view 

 the many points of interest in the beautiful valley, carriages 

 were provided. 



From the grand outlook on the crest of Sulphur Mountain 

 the chief features of the region were readily grasped. The Bow 

 River far below us broke across the range, while on either hand 

 were deep longitudinal valleys running between tilted oro- 

 graphic blocks of Paleozoic limestones, out of which a succes- 

 1 Canadian Survey Reports for 1886, vol. ii. Report D, p. 40. 



NO. 1464, VOL. 57] 



