296 Canadian Record of Science. 



yield alluvial gold, and additional discoveries are probable. 

 No gold has yet been found on the eastern slopes of the 

 range, but here the infolded rocks of the Kootanie (Creta 

 ceous) series con tain numerous seams of coal, some of which 

 are of excellent quality. The coal is generally bituminous, 

 but in the Cascade and Bow Eiver basin becomes an an- 

 thracite, and mining operations are here already in pro- 

 gress on the line of the railway. Copper ores and galena 

 are also known to occur in somewhat important deposits, 

 and in 1884, we discovered, on a tributary of the Beaverfoot, 

 in veins in an extensive intrusion of nepheline-syenite, a 

 very beautiful blue sodalite which may prove of value for 

 ornamental purposes. 



Throughout the whole of this portion of the Bocky Moun- 

 tains, large patches of perennial snow are frequently met 

 with at elevations surpassing 6000 feet, and in sheltered 

 localities, even at lesser heights. In the high mountains 

 near the forty-ninth parallel, masses of hard snow and ice 

 exist which appear to have a certain amount of proper 

 motion and might be denominated glaciers, but further 

 north, true glaciers, with all the well known characters of 

 those of the Alps and other high mountain regions, occur. 

 Such glaciers may be seen on the North Branch of the 

 Kicking Horse, at the head-waters of the Bed Deer, and 

 elsewhere, and these are fed by snow-fields, the areas 

 of which, though not accurately known, must be, in a num- 

 ber of cases, very considerable. Above a height of 6000 

 feet, snow falls more or less frequently in every month in 

 the year, and about the first of October, it may be 

 expected to occur even in the lower valleys within the 

 mountain region. 



In respect to the total amount of precipitation, the cir- 

 cumstances differ remarkably in the different portions of 

 this comparatively limited tract of mountains, being quite 

 small in the Columbia-Kootanie Valley, heavy on the adja- 

 cent western slopes of the range, and again inconsiderable 

 on the eastern slopes. The position of the Columbia- 

 Kootanie Valley, with reference to the prevailing westerly 

 air currents, in the lee of the Selkirk and Purcell Banges, 



