THE CANADIAN JOURNAL 
NEW SERIES. 
No. XXXIV.—JULY, 1861. 
ON THE PETROLEUM SPRINGS OF WESTERN CANADA. 
BY CHARLES ROBB, 
MINING ENGINEER, MONTREAL. 
Read before the Canadian Institute, February 2nd, 1861. 
The existence of vast reservoirs of mineral oil hidden beneath the 
rocks in the western part of our Province, and now for the first time 
being disclosed to the light of day, forms a subject of the deepest 
scientific interest, and will amply justify an enquiry into its nature and 
probable origin, on scientific grounds only. But when we consider the 
additional importance attaching to the question from the commercial 
value of the material; and since, in the present crisis of the history of 
Canada, so much study is directed to the development of her natural 
resources, no further considerations need be urged to secure attention 
to the subject. 
Petroleum, mineral oil, or fluid bitumen, is an inflammable substance, 
composed of carbon and hydrogen; of a black or deep brown colour, 
unctuous to the touch, and exhaling a strong and unpleasant odor. It 
exudes from the earth, or flows into wells in the manner of water 
springs, and is generally accompanied with an evolution of gas, the 
pressure of which seems to constitute the force which occasions the 
flow at the surface. Springs of petroleum and naphtha (an allied sub- 
Vou. VI. Y 
