THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 23 



NOTES UPON THE SURFACE GEOLOGY OF LINCOLN 

 COUNTY, ONTARIO. 



Read before the Hamilton Association, December 12th, i8qo. 



BY D. F. H. WILKINS, B. A., BAC. APP. SCI., HEAD MASTER HIGH 

 SCHOOL, BEAMSVILLE. 



The present paper must be understood to be a mere outline, a 

 connecting link between the writer's previous description of the 

 River Valleys of the Niagara Escarpment and a subsequent essay 

 which will describe more fully the features now merely hinted at. 

 In excuse for the somewhat deceptive title of the present effort, the 

 writer must plead engagements which have of necessity confined his 

 observations to a somewhat limited district. Moreover, in order to 

 connect fully the present paper with the former, the attention of the 

 Association is asked to some features lying beyond the limits of the 

 County of Lincoln, which, nevertheless, the writer thinks necessary 

 for the proper development of his subject. The importance, there- 

 fore, of the surface geology of the region extending from Hamilton 

 to Niagara, together with that of the district sloping southward to 

 Lake Erie, requires far more development than that contained in the 

 few scattered notes here laid before you. 



Now, since it is advisable to deal with those phenomena nearest 

 the region in question, your attention is asked to a section exposed 

 on Lot 13, Con. i, Clinton Township, this being as near a typical 

 series as can be found, with perhaps one exception to be noted. 

 Again, it must be remembered that the Medina shale, unaltered, 

 forms the surface soil in many localities, overlaid here and there by 

 a layer of vegetable mould of a few inches in thickness. The sec- 

 tion referred to shows in descending order : — 



1. Surface soil, yellow loam — i foot. 



2. Stratified brown clay, full of boulders, stones and small peb- 

 bles — i^ feet. 



3. Brown-red clay, stratified, full of Medina pebbles, red and 

 green, Hudson River fragments, all strongly impregnated with cal- 

 cium chloride — 6 feet. 



