82 Geological Survey of Canada. 



lutely condemning every region that is not naturally as level as a 

 meadow and as fertile as a garden. There can be no doubt, that, 

 in the present state of this country, the narrow glens and scat- 

 tered alluvial flats of a hilly and broken region are not likely to 

 be very inviting to settlers ; but if other inducements than those 

 of agriculture alone can be offered "such districts may be profitably 

 occupied. The river alluvia and the sheltered valleys of such 

 regions are often very ferti'e ; the black peaty swamps, when 

 drained, afford inexhaustible crops of grass ; and the stony hill- 

 sides aie well adapted for orchards, and yield good pasturage. 

 Experience shows also that the energy and force of character of 

 the population of such districts rise to meet the difficulties that 

 surround them ; and thus these regions become nurseries of the 

 patriotic feeling and of the mental and bodily energy, that are too 

 apt to die out on the more fertile plains. If therefore by placing 

 the seat of government on the confines of the Laurentian region, 

 by opening new lines of traffic, or by developing the mineral 

 resources that may be present, an effectual stimulus can be given 

 to the settlement of these vast wastes, the object is well worthy 

 of the attention of Canadian statesmen. 



Into the consideration of the two first of these means of im- 

 provement it is not the province of the Geological Survey directly 

 to enter, but the last falls within its scope. Unfortunately the 

 present state of the district presents many obstacles to its explo- 

 ration, but everywhere Mr. Murray met with indications of mag- 

 netic iron ore, which probably occurs in workable quantity in 

 many places, while abundance of wood for its reduction exists in 

 the territory. The Huronian formation also, which has proved 

 so productive of copper on the shores of Georgian Bay, is exten- 

 sively distributed, and small quantities of copper ore were found 

 in it in several places. On this subject Mr. Murray says : — 



" The existence of the ores of copper and iron, -which are known to 

 be more or less characteristic of the Huronian rocks, invests the geo- 

 graphical distribution of the formation with much economic impor- 

 tance. These ores were repeatedly observed in the region explored last 

 season, and, although nowhere seen in large amount or to a large ex- 

 tent, the indications were sufficient to establish their pretty general 

 distribution. Small specks and patches of the yellow sulphuret of 

 copper were frequently found in the blackish and dark-gray slates, on 

 the lower lakes of the Maskanongi ; and at the southern turn of these 

 lakes there is a quartz vein of from six to eight feet wide, with copper 

 pyrites, cutting slate conglomerate and an intrusive mass of compact 



