412 REPORT—1899. 
shaft at a point one-third of a mile to the north-east, where the conditions 
appeared favourable. 
The place chosen is on the plain or terrace formed by ancient Lake 
Iroquois, with a deep ravine on each side, the one to the east cut by the 
Don, that to the west by a small tributary stream. The terrace rises 
148 feet above the Don, which is here 12 feet above Lake Ontario as 
determined by aneroid, and Hudson shale crops out 30 feet above the 
river, leaving a thickness of 118 feet of ‘drift’ above it. Near the top of 
the steep slope above the Don an excavation made for obtaining potter’s 
clay exposed about 40 feet of stratified bluish-grey clay, containing no 
peat or other fossils—probably of later age than the fossiliferous inter- 
glacial beds—making it unnecessary to commence the shaft at the top of 
the terrace. 
The first shaft sunk on the slope towards the Don was unsuccessful, 
since at a depth of 17 feet water began to come in from a stratum of sand, 
putting an end to the work. The upper part of this shaft passed through 
grey clay, but the last 2 feet consisted of clay with boulders. 
As another shaft started 100 yards to the south proved no better, it was 
decided to begin anew on the opposite side of the hill, an eighth of a mile 
to the west, on the slope towards the small tributary stream. 
The third shaft was commenced 35 feet below the Iroquois terrace, 
and in the absence of the Secretary was taken in charge by Professor 
A. B. Willmott. He reports that sand was passed through for 324 feet, 
followed by 2} feet of gravel and a foot or two of clay, the whole depth 
being 38 feet. Here, however, water came in so rapidly that the work 
was stopped. No undoubted boulder clay was met with, though at 
12 feet depth large Archean boulders were found in thesand. Below this 
some layers of sand and gravel cemented with carbonate of lime occur, and 
in gravel beneath the cemented layers unios and pleuroceras were found, 
unfortunately too fragmentary to be determined. 
Professor Willmott decided to sink another shaft lower down the 
hill, at a point apparently better drained, and this was successfully carried 
down 604 feet, almost reaching the Hudson shale, the Secretary once 
more taking charge of the work. 
The section disclosed 13 feet of sand and gravel like those of the 
previous shaft, but with no cemented layers and no shells ; 304 feet of 
stratified clay, with some wood, peaty layers, and hard thin sheets of 
greenish clay ironstone ; 24 feet of brown sand with some clay ; 5 feet of 
bluish sand and clay ; 6 inches of gravel with unios; 2 feet of brown 
sand and about 64 feet of blue sand, and a little clay containing many 
shells. At this depth water put a stop to the work. By the side of the 
stream a few paces away a small scarp exposed the Hudson shale a foot 
or two below the bottom of the adjoining shaft, and resting on it was a 
sheet of typical boulder clay, from 6 to 18 inches thick, containing frag- 
ments of limestone and Archean rocks, such as granite. 
The section opened up by this shaft displayed characteristic Scar- 
borough peaty clay overlying equally characteristic Don sands with unios, 
the lower boulder clay lying beneath the latter, but the upper boulder 
clay was not shown. To settle its position a fifth shaft was sunk just at 
the foot of the cutting for potter’s clay near the Don, Professor Willmott 
again taking charge of the operations. He reports that the shaft, 
commencing 42 feet below the Iroquois terrace, goes through 13 feet of 
surface soil and stratified grey clay without fossils. At 15 feet boulder 
