G@he Acientific Enquirer. 
JUNE, 1888. 
A few Geological Notes on British 
Columbia. 
By Mrs. ALicE BoDINGTON. 
HEN TIarrived last October in the new city on the 
Pacific, Vancouver, I looked around to see, if 
possible, in what part of the geological world I found 
myself. Not the smallest information was to be had 
through the pamphlets circulated by the Canadian 
Pacific Railway ; not the smallest book on the subject in the town 
itself. But the very first walk showed that we were in a most 
interesting region. The surface-soil was everywhere clay, and, 
lying loose on the soil, or deeply imbedded in it, were smooth 
boulders, from a few pounds to many tons in weight. It was 
evident that we were in a region of glacial deposits. But it was 
not till I had access to the Canadian Government Geological 
Reports that I was aware of the stupendous size of the glacier 
which had brought these boulders withit. There is evidence from 
the striation of the rocks, in Vancouver Island, and on the main- 
land, by the presence of erratics and other undoubted signs of ice 
action, that a huge glacier had once filled up the Straits of Georgia, 
and had forced its way north and south to the ocean. The 
Straits at this point are seventy-six miles wide, and the glacier had 
spread over the land on both sides. 
On the Rocky Mountains, marks of ice-action are found 
beyond the height of 5,000 feet. A well-marked beach of rolled 
stones is met with on Il-ga-chuz Mountain, 5,270 feet above the 
level of the sea, and moraines occur in great numbers. White 
silts or loess are found at a height of 550 feet above the 
Thompson River. 
Vou. III. 6 
