NOTES ON MINERAL FUELS OF CANADA. — ELLS. 65 



a short distance west of the Red river, near Winnipeg, and 

 extends, apparently without interruption, to the Eocky moun- 

 tains. This formation contains numerous beds of coal, princi- 

 pally of the lignite variety. 



These deposits of the west were first brouffht into promin- 

 ence from twenty-five to forty years ago. Many of them are 

 high grade and true coking coals, which occasionally pass into 

 anthracite in the eastern slopes of the mountain range, while the 

 great seams of the plains east of the Rockies still remain in the 

 form of lignite to a large extent. Among the most important of 

 the true coals which have been extensively worked since the 

 building of the Canadian Pacific railway, are the large seams 

 found in the Crows Nest pass, and along the valley of the Bow 

 River, near Banff. 



The anthracite character of these coals has evidently been 

 developed through the agency of heat induced by pressure dur- 

 ing the time of mountain uplift. All these western coals are 

 therefore of much more recent date than are those of the eastern 

 provinces. It is so far as yet known, the true Carboniferous rockf 

 of the Rocky Mountains do not contain coal. 



Between the eastern outcrop of the Cretacous rocks of the 

 plains and the coal outcrops of the eastern slope of the Rocky 

 Mountains, immense deposits of lignite and of lignitic coal 

 occur. They are mined at several points, the most easterly 

 being at Souris, near the western boundarv of Manitoba. In 

 some places this lignite has a high fuel value, but can be dis- 

 tinguished from true coals, among other things, bv the fact that, 

 unlike the bituminous variety, lignite and even the higher 

 grade known as lignitic coal will not coke. Lignite also contains 

 a much higher percentage of moisture than the true coals, this 

 feature in some cases reaching as much as 15 to nearly 20 per 

 cent. Immense beds of this lignite are found along the upper 

 portion of the North and South Saskatchewan Rivers, and fur- 

 ther north extend into the Peace River district. It is exten- 



PBoe. St Traks. N. S. Ikst. Sci., Vol. XII. Trans. 5. 



