lU 



KE VIEWS. 



[1852. 



and solid calcareous cliffs of sixty and eighty feet. Tlie Credit, iu 

 Caledoa, is flauked by siuiUar cliffs ; aud iu the valley of the Notta- 

 wasaga, in Mono, the same character prevails. SiniUar cliffs were 

 observed in Mulinur and Nottawasaga, aud in the valley of the Beaver 

 river iu Euphrasia aud Artemesia the same limestone is at least 120 

 feet thick. 



Mr. Mm'ray goes on to state that huge caverns are sometimes fouud 

 in this limestone, the roofs and floors being studded ivith small 

 stalactitic incrustations. 



The encrinal limestones are e%-eryw-here qualified to make a durable 

 and handsome building stone ; and in some parts, when sufficiently 

 removed from atmjsphevic influences, might be used as a marble for 

 common ornamental purposes. Most of its beds are likewise of good 

 quality for burning lime. 



Gypsiferous works were recognized in the Speed, the Irvine, and 

 the Rocky Saugeen ; aud Mr. Murray observes, that " sharp conical 

 hiUs and mounds, aud large circular sinks or depressions, such as have 

 been described in a former Report, are of frequent occurrence in tlie 

 gypsiferous country, were observed iu the township of Waterloo and 

 in several parts of the Saugeen ; and it is extremely probable that as 

 improvement advances, and the hills ai'e cut into where roads liappeu 

 to intersect them, this useful mineral wiU eventually be found in many 

 places." 



" Drift. — It has already been remarked in the Report of 1843 that a 

 great deposit of loose deMtal material, consisting of clay, sand, gravel, 

 and boulders, deeply conceals the older sti'ata in a great many pails of 

 Western Canada ; aud this remark is peculiarly applicable to the 

 Peninsula between the Niagara Ridge and the St. Clair River. The 

 lower portion of the more recent deposits, as exhibited on the shore 

 of Lake Erie, where the cUffs are in many parts over 150 feet high, is 

 a blue calcareous clay, frequently holding pebbles and small boulders 

 of limestone, and small round fragments of granite or gneissoid rock. 

 Clay of an ash-grey colour, when dried, but presenting a light brownish 

 colour in the bed, succeeds the blue clay, and tliis again is overlaid by 

 pale buff and occasionally yellowish tinged clay. Back from the lake 

 these clays are capped with a stratum of sand, and the more elevated 

 parts present beds of calcai-eous gravel 



" No organic remaias of either marine or fresh-water origin have 

 hitherto been observed among the superficial deposits of the Western 

 Peninsula, with the exception of the shells which constitute the fresh- 

 water shell mails, and the impressions of leaves and moss whicJi are 

 frequently preserved in the tufaceous deposits around calcareous 

 springs and on the banks of rividets, both of which are evidently of 

 very recent origin. The marls are only found immediately below the 

 vegetable mould, and contain only shells common to almost all the 

 lakes and rivers of the present day : and in the accumulations of cal- 

 careous tufa the impies-sions are only of such plants as now grow iu 

 the immediate vicinity of the springs and brooks, to which the 

 deposits owe their origin. 



J^ " The materials of economic importance, connected with the super- 

 ficial deposits, are brick clays, bog iron ore, shell marl, calcareous tufa, 

 and peat, 



"All the clays are more or less calcareous ; but some portions of the 

 deposit are, nevertheless, ad mirahh' adapted for tlie manufacture of 

 bricks, aud are used for that purpose over a great pail^'of the northern 

 country. 



" Bog iron ore is found in many parts of the country in greater or 

 less abundance, along the edges of marslies or on tlie marshj' banks of 

 streams. It usually occurs in roiigli, in-e^ular, detached masses, and 

 of all sizes under one foot diameter, generally deposited on clay, and 

 concealed by vegetable mould and marsli grasses. 



'• Fresh-water shell marls were obseiTed at several places in the 

 new townships of Bentinck and Brant. One bed, extending over 

 between two and three acres, witli a tliickncss vai-ying from three 

 inches to one foot, occurs on the properly of Mr. Jackson, on the nine- 

 teenth lot of the first concession west of the Owen Sound Road, witliin 

 a mile of the village of Durliam. Another bed occurs on tlie fifty-ninth 

 lot of the first concession south 'n Bentinck, on the Durham Road, the 

 extent of which was not exactly iLsoertaiued, but it shews a tliicknesa 

 iu several places on tlie side of the road of not less than two feet, A 



third bed was seen on the seventieth or seventy -first lot of the tii'st 

 concession south of the Durham Road in Brant ; this bed is exhibited 

 in the bank-^ ,uid on the bottom of a small tributary of the Saugeen, 

 near its junction witli that river, aud is iu some parts fully three feet in 

 t)uckii('<s. ladirations of the presence of the same substance were 

 observed likewise near the junction of the Rocky Saugeen and the 

 main stream : and it is probable that it ^"Ul be found to exist iu many 

 other parts of tlie region, where its value as manure wiU doubtless be 

 sufticieutly appreciated as tlie settlement advances in improvement. 



" These marls, which are almost entii-ely composed of an aggregate 

 of comminuted fresh-water shells, are usually concealed by a rich 

 black vegetable mould or peat. The ground is usually swamjjy and 

 sometimes assumes somewhat the character of praiiie Umd. I was 

 informed of some instances in which the peat is sufflciently tluck and 

 free from earthy matter to be available as a fiiel, but none of these 

 came within my observation. 



" In respect to the tufa, none of the deposits that came within my 

 notice were of sufficient importance to be deemed cf economic value ; 

 but indications of it were met with on the banks of many springs and 

 streams ; aud in consequence of the calcai'eous nature of the soil, and 

 the adjacent rocks iu .so gi-eat an extent of the Western Peninsula, 

 lai-ge deposits of it may be looked for. The material is applicable as 

 a mineral raanm-e, and may be resorted to for lime for moi-tar. 



"Springs cf petroleum, commonly known in the country by the 

 designation of oil sprinrix, rise in the River Thames, near its right bank, 

 on the twenty-eighth and twenty-uinth lots of the first range of Mosa, 

 where the bituminous oil is frequently collected on cloths from off the 

 surface of the water, 'and is very generally used in the neighbourhood 

 as a remedy for cuts aud cutaneous diseases in Imises. Similar spiings 

 are known to exist in the township of Euniskilleu, and a deposit of 

 mineral pitch or mineral caoutchouc is said to extend over several 

 acres on the seventeenth lot of the second concession of the township." 



Tlie Report of T. S. Hunt, Esq., Chemist and Mineralogist to the 

 Provincial Geological Survey, follows that of the Assistant Geologist. 

 Ml'. Hunt gives the analysis of several felspathic minerals, which were 

 first discovered in Canada by that indefatigable collector. Dr. Wilson of 

 Perth, aud Dr. A. R. Holmes of Montreal, and fii'St analyzed by Dr. 

 Thomson of Glasgow. Perthiie, Mr. Hunt states, is of the same compo- 

 sition as Orlhoclase ; Perisleritc he shows to be Albite ; Bytownite to be 

 identified with Atiorthile ; PrelinalUe a compact MarmoliU. jThese 

 minerals, suggested by Dr. Thomson to be new species, are thus found 

 to be identical with previously described vai-ietics. Mr. Hunt has 

 however succeeded iu discovering a new mineral, which he fouud in a 

 mass of lime-stone, exposed in constructing the timber slides on the 

 Ottawa, near the Grand Calumet. He has very appropriately named 

 it Loganllc. 



We have not space to advert to Mr. Hunt's admirable series of 

 analyses of mineral waters, with which the Geological Reports for the 

 last two or three years have been em-iched. We can onl}- say, in con- 

 clusion, that the Reports are of the highest value to the commercial and 

 scientific interests of this Province ; and while they reflect great credit 

 upon the Govenimeiit wliicli provides the means for the prosecution of the 

 researches they detail they will be a lasting record of the indefatiga- 

 ble industry and rare talent of the gentlemen engaged in the 

 arduous work of discovering and describing the geological treasures 

 of Canada. 



Amr.ricaii Journal of Science and Arts. — A. H. Armour <t Co., Toronto. 

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