9, 



stone and sandstone beds ; bub below 

 these again there is the hard Lauren tian 

 formation that we must aeecribe. AH of us 

 know that whtn we t?o east of Winnipeg on 

 the Canadian Pacific Railway, at a disoance of 

 forty or fifty miles from the city the prairie is 

 lefo behind, and a rocky region is entered 

 upon. This rocky region, which we call 

 Laurentian, or in Eome places Hnronian, ap- 

 pears as the surface rock first in R. 7. Tp. 9, 

 some thirBy miles east of Winnipeg. This is 

 the furthest extent of the original island 

 stretching from Labrador, north of the great 

 lakep, tor more than 1.600 miles, and reaching 

 its western limit at the point named. This 

 formation runs northward along the east shore 

 of Lake Winnipeg and then to the Arctic Sea 

 See (Fig. 1 ) 



The vast wilderness represented by the dark 

 portion of the diagram is the oldest part of 

 the North American continent, and consists of 

 beds of granite, greenstone, Labradorite, trap, 

 and crystalline lim stone. These after being 

 deposited were hardened hy a metamorphic 

 pre cess through intense hean ; by great pres- 

 sure they ha^e been bent and twisted. Out of 

 such rocljs, hard as they may be, the 

 soil as also the limestones and 

 sandstones of our prairies have been made by 

 the wearing down by streams, <ind by atmos- 

 pheric and other agencies. From this island 

 the hard rocks s'opf d away in all directions, 

 and for uf, hundreds of feet below the spot 

 where we are standing to-night became the 

 rocky ocean bed, on which were deposited the 

 limestones and standatone s which we are more 

 fully to describe. The above diagram repre- 

 sents, as we have said, the Laurentian island, 

 the dotted outline bting that of the present 

 oontiiienb of North America. If priority of 

 f. rmation gives any claim to the continent. 

 Canada has the advantage of her American 

 cousins to the south, in owning the whole of 

 the original Laurentian island. 



LAKE WINNIPEG BASIN. 



Of exposed rocks, lying upon the Lauren- 

 tian foundation tne lowest are those of the 

 basin of Lake Winnipeg. Many parts of the 

 west shore of the lake are solid rock^ uncov- 

 ered by drift. This west coast has been well 

 observed. An early observer. Dr. Richard- 

 son (1851)examined it on his way to the Arctic 

 fea. By this geologist the rock was fixed as 

 Bird's-eye limestone. Sir Henry Lefroy, for 

 the Royal Society, also visited this shore. 

 The best description of it yet given 

 is that by Professor H, Y. Hind, in his 

 report of 1857 to the Canadian government; 

 and, by the way, this report, though made so 

 early, is one of the most reliable sources of 

 information we have of the Northwest. Prof. 

 Hind describes the sandstone layers at Grind- 

 stone Point, and also the limestone, which he 

 declares to belong to the Chazy division of 

 rocks. Recently Mr. J. B Tyrell, of the 

 Canadian Geological Survey, has explored the 

 lake and published notes on its geology Lake 

 Winnipeg is now definitely known to be a 

 broad trougbj hollowed out by glacial action, 

 on the east shore consisting of the hard gran 

 ite and conglomerate of the Laurentian, and 

 on the west in its lower rocks of the Oalcifer- 



ous, and probably Potsdam serie8,now classed 

 as Cambrian rocks lying upon the Laurentian. 



RED EIVER BXPOSUEES. 



Along the banks of the Red river in the 

 cuttings made by streams and in quarries, 

 beds of limestone are exposed. One of the 

 mcsb notable of these exposures is the quarry 

 at Bast Selkirk. Near Lower Fort Garry 

 there are aleo extensive limestone deposits, 

 and the limestone has been burnt here, and 

 shipped as lime to Winnipeg. Toward the 

 upper end of St. Andrew's parish another 

 rock locality may be noted. The limestones 

 along the river are often bufl[ colored, and as 

 they contain a good deal of maenesia belong 

 to the Dolomitic series. They are of the sajoe 

 age as the Trenton rocks of Ontario, and 

 probably incluie eerie'* corresponding to the 

 Utica shale as well. These recks have been 

 examined with some care by Messrs. J. H. 

 Panton and A. McCharles, members of this 

 society, and by other local geologists. 



STONY MOUNTAIN AND STONfiWALt. 



Stony Mountain is the most interesting geo 

 logical monument in the Red River Valley. 

 It is some twelve miles northwest of Winni- 

 peg, and is an outlier of limestone beds, sixty 

 or seventy feet high, on its west tide showing 

 a steep escarpment. Its stone has been ex- 

 tensively quarried for buildiog stone and for 

 making lime. The rock in view is of two 

 kinds — the upper forty feet or so on being 

 tested is found to be a dolomitf^, while the 

 lower is a red limestone, colored by iron. The 

 red layer abounds in fossils, containing coral 

 remains and a great number of ancient 

 bivalves (Brachiopods). One exceedingly 

 hard and quite thin, flinty layer is seen run- 

 ning along the escarpment. This will not 

 burn into lime. The accepted explanation as 

 to the history of Stony Mountain is that it is 

 the survival of the vast beds of rock worn 

 away by the glaciers ; and when the two lines 

 of glaaiers, one from the northwest, the other 

 from the northeast, met, they left Stony 

 Mountain beuind as the island remains 

 at the junction of two rivers. About five 

 miles northwest of Stony Mountain is the 

 village of S'onewal), where there are quarries. 

 This spot is considerably higher than Stony 

 Mountain, so that between the two is the 

 trough ploughed out by the old N W, 

 g'acier At Stonewall is perhaps the finest 

 example of glaciated rock with which we are 

 acquainted. The glacial striae are seen on 

 the rock surface, wherever the drift, here only 

 eight or ten feet deep, is removed. Mr. J. 

 H. Panton, of this society, has worked out 

 the Stony Mountain and Stonewall geology, 

 and while with all others he makes the lower 

 Stony Mountain beds to be ol Hudson River 

 horizon, he is inclined to regard the higher 

 strata here, as well as the upper Stonewall 

 beds, as Niagara limestone. Odrtainly the 

 lithological characters of these deposits incline 

 one to this opinion lb is somewhat interest- 

 ing to notice that the rocks underlying our 

 fertile prairies along the Red River are much 

 the same as those below the soil in the part of 

 Ontario stretching down to Ottawa from the 

 Laurentian axis which crosses the St. Law- 



