DOWN THE PEACE RIVER 119 



a pebble. The first indications of "tar" were in the form of 

 pebbles composed of sand and tar, formed above and carried down 

 by the ice. From this time forward, we continued to see deposits 

 of tar wherever we came near the river margin. We sailed up the 

 river for days, owing to the wind being in our favor, and made no 

 stops. On the 7th of September, the river valley became narrower 

 and real banks appeared about 50 feet high and the country was 

 apparently level. Where we breakfasted, on the left bank, I 

 observed a bed of tar conglomerate about thirty inches above 

 the river. There was sand above and below it and the ooze along 

 the shore, both at this point and many places below, looked like 

 the ooze from petroleum streams. Fully one-half of the pebbles 

 along the shore, in many localities, are composed of tar conglo- 

 merate. The tar was frequently observed, sometimes forming a 

 bed two feet thick. Early in the afternoon, we came upon the 

 shale beds which produce the tar and sailed past them all the 

 evening. 



We landed at this point and found a light gray sand-stone, 

 partly saturated with the tar, and over this, again, shale largely 

 charged with alkali matter; this was the sequence all the way, 

 although at times there was much more exposed. 



Where we landed, the ooze from the bank had flowed down 

 the slide into the water and formed a tarred surface extending 

 along the beach over one hundred yards and as hard as iron. 

 But, in the bright sunshine, the surface is quite soft and the men 

 would, when tracking along the shore, often sink in up to their 

 ankles. For more than twenty miles this rock was observed, and 

 it was from it I obtained fossils. At the place where the Hudson's 

 Bay Company got their supply of tar for the boats, I noticed a 

 little stream of water flowing into the pool, which was coated with 

 an oil scum and under the stream was an abundance of tar. 



Instead of getting the tar on the beach, as I expected, I took 

 it from this pool, which was about forty feet down the stream. 

 I filled one jar at the spring and another jar on the beach by tak- 

 ing the tar and sand and washing it in the water. That there 

 must be enormous quantities, I am quite satisfied, on account of 

 having seen the tar along the bank for over one hundred miles. 



