280 Revieios — Dr. G. M. Daicson's Borings in Manitoba. 



limestone, and Dr. Dawson concludes, therefore, that we have here 

 "a littoral formation directly overlying the subjacent Laurentian, and 

 marking the limit at this place of the Lower Magnesian Sea," 



The most remarkable feature of the Eosenfeld well was the strong 

 flow of brine which issued from it, especially at the level of the St. 

 Peter Sandstone, whence it rose in a pipe to a height of 18 feet 

 above the surface of the ground. The author calls attention to the 

 great age of the rocks yielding the brine. "It appears," he says, 

 " not improbable that the shoaling of the Cambro-Silurian sea 

 evidenced by the widespread littoral deposit known as the St. Peter 

 sandstone resulted in the enclosure of salt lagoons in this portion of 

 the interior basin, while it merely produced an increased land area 

 further south in Iowa and Wisconsin." 



The brine is said to be well adapted for the manufacture of salt. 



Another fact of geological importance was elicited by the Eosen- 

 feld boring, viz. " the comparatively thin covering of Palasozoio 

 rocks which here overlaps the Archsean, and the very gradually 

 shelving character of the surface of the latter westward." 



Passing over the records of borings at various places (numbered 

 2 to 6) in which there appears to be nothing worthy of special note, 

 we reach No. 7: — "Boring at Langevin Station." — This place is 

 also on the line of the Canadian Pacific Eailway, 35 miles west of 

 Medicine Hat, on the South Saskatchewan Eiver, at an elevation of 

 2471 feet above the sea-level. Two borings were made here, the 

 one attaining a depth of 1155 feet, and the other 1400 feet. The 

 result of these operations was somewhat unexpected, and, in the first 

 case disastrous, a heavy flow of combustible gas having been dis- 

 charged from the bore-hole, and this becoming ignited, destroyed the 

 works at the surface. This boring had consequently to be abandoned, 

 and another undertaken, the gas being now utilized for working the 

 engine. 



This second boring showed (1) Drift deposits, estimated at 88 feet 

 in thickness ; with (2) about 223 feet of beds consisting probably of 

 the lower part of the "Belly Eiver Series"^ (Upper Cretaceous) 

 underlying them. Beneath the latter there were found beds aggre- 

 gating 1099 feet in thickness ; these are considered by Dr. Dawson 

 to be probably of the age of the " Lower Dark Shales,"^ passing 

 down into the "Fort Benton Group" (?) (Lower Cretaceous). 



The result of the operations at Langevin proves the existence of 

 a large quantity of combustible gas in the district ; a matter of great 

 economical importance. The supply of gas comes from the sandy 

 layers of the " Lower Dark Shales" at depths of 900 feet and over, 

 and is derived, in the opinion of the author, from the decomposition 

 of the organic matter of the dark Carbonaceous shales. 



Akthuii H. Fookd. 



1 See Geol. Surv. of Canada, Eeport of Progress, 1882-83-84, p. 112e. 

 ^ Loc. cit. p. 42c. 



