REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 7 



in Ranger Brook Canyon and to conduct a reconnaissance of the 

 pre-Devonian formations to the Northwest as far as the headwaters 

 of the North Fork of the Saskatchewan River, Alberta. 



The field season was an unusually unfavorable one for geological 

 work. During the three months in the field 35 days were stormy, 

 28 cloudy and cold, and snow fell on 20 days in August and Sep- 

 tember. As a result, not more than one-third of the work planned 

 was accomplished before the party was driven back to the railroad 

 by heavy snows. 



On our way north we crossed over Pipestone Pass and down the 

 Siffleur River. Clearwater River heads in glacial gravels on the 

 east side of the Siffleur about 2 miles north of Pipestone Pass. 

 Twenty-five miles farther to the northwest at the point where the 

 south branch (Mistaya Creek), the middle branch (Howse River), 

 and the north branch unite to form the Saskatchewan River there 

 are some beautiful and instructive views of the surrounding moun- 

 tains. The Mount Forbes massif on the left is a superb mountain 

 mass and in the distant center is Division Mountain at the head of 

 Glacier Lake Canyon which we visited in 1919, on the right Survey 

 Peak and beyond two unnamed points. The Glacier Lake section 

 of the pre-Devonian and Upper Cambrian formations was studied 

 on the northern slopes of the Mount Forbes massif. 



Twelve miles northeast of Mount Forbes the cliffs of Mount 

 Murchison rise high above the dark forested slopes and present a 

 view of the Devonian and pre-Devonian formations that is un- 

 equaled in all this region of peaks, cliffs, and broad canyon valleys. 



Opposite Mount Murchison on the north side of the Saskatchewan, 

 Mount Wilson presents another section of the pre-Devonian forma- 

 tions, the upper end of which is a massive white quartzite formed 

 of the sands of the beaches over which the Devonian Sea deposited 

 a thick layer of calcareous sediments abounding in the remains of 

 corals and various invertebrates of the time. On the west, Mount 

 Yv^ilson rises directly above the North Fork of the SaskatcheAvan, 

 which here flows through a narrow picturesque inner canyon. 



PALEONTOLOGICAL FIELD WORK IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Dr. R. S. Bassler, curator of the division of paleontology in the 

 National Museum, was occupied during the field season in collecting 

 geologic material and in mapping and studying the economic re- 

 sources of the Franklin quadrangle in Williamson County, Tenn., 

 in cooperation with the Geological Survey of that State. This region 

 is of considerable economic interest on account of the phosphate 

 and oil shale possibilities. The numerous outcrops of Ordovician 

 and later Paleozoic formations contain a great number of fossils. 



