THE CANADIAN JOURNAL. 
NEW SERIES. 
No. XXXIII.—MAY, 1861. 
SOME NOTES ON THE DRIFT DEPOSITS OF WESTERN 
CANADA, AND ON THE ANCIENT EXTENSION OF 
THE LAKE AREA OF THAT REGION. 
BY E. J. CHAPMAN, 
PROFESSOR OF MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, TORONTO. 
(Read before the Canadian Institute, March 16th, 1861.) 
The following notes and deductions are the result of a careful 
examination of the Drift deposits of Western Canada, undertaken 
during the last three or four summers in an unsuccessful search 
for marine post-tertiary fossils, such as occur so abundantly in 
many parts of Eastern Canada and throughout the New England 
States. The district more especially investigated, extends from the 
Bay of Quinté westward to the mouth of the Saugeen on Lake 
Huron, and includes the line of country lying along, and immedi- 
ately within, the outcrop of the Laurentian rocks north of that region. 
Detached observations have been made, moreover, at various points 
on the islands and north shore of Lake Huron; and also beyond the 
limits of the Province, as in the district south of Lake Ontario, in 
Michigan, and along the southern shore of Lake Superior. 
The notes recorded here, are arranged under two sections, of 
which the first comprises a collection of data, and the second a 
corresponding series of deductions. 
§ 1. Data. 
1. The first point observable, with regard to our drift deposits, is 
the very evident fact that the rock floor on which these accumula- 
Vou. VI. Q 
