DEPTH OF PERMANENTLY FROZEN SOIL IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 275 



14. Mr. W. Ramsay settled on the South Saskatchewan, 35 miles from 

 here, sank a well 40 feet. May 27, 1884; no frost. 



15. Mr. Jos. Finlayson, 3 miles from here, sunk a well beginning of 

 July 1882, 46 feet, He saw no frost. 



16. Mr. J. D. Mackay, on the same section as the above, sunk a well 

 27 feet, July 15, 1884, found particles of frozen earth at 7 feet deep. 



17. Mr. W. C. Mackay, my next neighbour half a mile west of this, 

 sunk a well about June 20, 1884 ; found particles of frozen eartli at 

 6^ feet. 



18. Lat. 53° .32', long.- 113° 30'. Fort Edmonton, on the Saskatchewan, 

 2,400 feet above the sea. Dr. James Hector, on March 5, 1858, found the 

 soil frozen to a depth of 7 feet 6 inches. ' 



19. Lat. 51° 14', long. 102° 24'. At Yorkton Mr. J. Riaman, when 

 digging a well last summer (1885), found the frost at a depth of 19 and 

 •20 feet, and continuing for a depth of 80 inches. In this case, therefore, 

 the total depth to which frost descended was about 22 feet. Mr. J. 

 Tarbolton, of Yorkton, in communicating the last observation, remarks : — 

 ■* The depth to which frost penetrates during the winter varies, I find, 

 ■with the character of the winter itself, and with the nature of the locality. 

 I made observations in an open unprotected spot, where there was little or 

 DO snow, and found frost to the depth of 5 feet 9 inches. This occurred last 

 July, and the frost was then about 2 feet deep (i.e., had descended to 

 7 feet 9 inches). But in the bluflfs near my house I dug a cellar, at the 

 ■same time, going down between 8 and 9 feet, encountering no frost at all. 



' This year, however, when digging another well in April, in almost 

 the same place, I encountered frost at 2 feet, and the ground continued 

 solid until I had gone down from 4| to 5 feet from the surface. From 

 this, and from the information I obtained from others, I am safe in saying 

 that the frost penetrates here to an average of 5 feet, except when we 

 have had a great depth of snow in the beginning of winter, in which case 

 it does not penetrate nearly so far. The bluffs referred to are groves of 

 poplar from 3 to 6 inches in diameter, on the edge of an open plain.' 



Mr. Charles Carpmael, Director of the Meteorological Service of 

 Oanada, to whom most of the above reports were addressed, remarks : — 

 * We can easily imagine that at a depth of 17 feet at Prince Albert, there 

 might be no frost at all in winter, but owing to the slow travelling down- 

 ward of the wave of cold, it might have I'eached a depth of 1 7 feet in the 

 early summer. 



' It is easily seen that the annual mean temperature of the air might 

 be considerably below the freezing point without the occurrence of per- 

 manently frozen soil, for in winter the soil is often covered deep in snow, 

 so that the temperature of the soil might be but little below 32°, although 

 the temperature of the air were 30° or 40° F. below zero. Again, the 

 heat which had entered the soil in summer would only be removed by 

 slow conduction, whereas the Summer heat would not only travel down- 

 wards by conduction, but be carried into the soil by percolation of the 

 warm water through the surface.' 



20. Lat. 60° 30', long. 103° 30'. The Bell farm, near Indian Head.— 

 Frozen soil is said to have been met with in the summer of 1884 at a 

 •depth of I2J7 feet ; details are wanting. 



21. Lat.^49° 53', long. 97° 15'. City of Winnipeg and the neighbour- 



' Journal R. G. S. vol. xxx. p.'277. 



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