1855.] 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



235 



ABSTRACT 0? THE KEPORT. 



Since the first commencement in 1843, Mr. Logan and his 

 assistants have traversed and examined eveiy part of Canada, 

 from Gaspe to the head of Lake Superior, in the uninhabited 

 portions, following, for the most part, the course of the Laljes, 

 the St. Lawrence, and the Ottawa, and their principal aifluents, 

 and in the settled parts penetrating farther into the interior. 



The minuteness with which the exploration of this immense 

 tract of country lias been conducted, has varied very much ac- 

 cording to circumstances, as the means of access, the immediate 

 requirements of the country, and the interest and importance 

 of the formations under examination. In some cases, where the 

 geological strooture maintains an uniform character over large 

 areas, as on the north side of Lake Ontario, little more has been 

 done than to trace the boundary between the principal forma- 

 tions. In others, as on Lakes Superior and Huron, in the 

 upper part of the Ottawa country, and in Gaspe, the nature of 

 the country, and the entire absence of reliable topographical 

 surveys, rendered any other examination impo.ssible in a limited 

 time, except to trace the course of the principal streams, with 

 such occasional excursions into the interior, as the geological 

 observations seemed to dictate ; wliilst in some, where the faci- 

 lities were greater, and the field more inviting, considerable 

 minuteness has been attained, as in the region between Lakes 

 Huron, Erie, and Ontario, the country between the St. Law- 

 I'ence and the Ottawa, and some parts of Lower Canada, south 

 of the St. Lawrence. The result has been such, as to enable 

 Mr. Logan to lay down with sufficient certainty the general 

 geological features of the whole of Canada, and to fill up many 

 of the more interesting parts in considerable detail. 



From the ab.sence of accurate maps, Mr. Logan and his as- 

 sistants have, in almost all cases, been obliged to conduct a 

 topographical survey, as well as an examination of the strata ; 

 a fact which should not be lost sight of, as having materially 

 retarded the progress of the survey, but which, at the same 

 time, has been of great use to the Pi'ovince, in giving certain 

 information as to rarely visited localities, and even in correcting 

 erroneous surveys in settled parts of the country, as is acknow- 

 ledged by Mr. Russell, of the Crown Land.s department, in his 

 evidence, who bears- testimony to the great accuracy of some of 

 Mr. Logan's surveys 



During these investigations many new fossils and mineral 

 forms have been discovered, and new facts of great interest to 

 geologists have been brought to light ; amongst the latter may 

 be mentioned the crustacean tracts discovered by Blr. Logan in 

 the Potsdam Sandstone ;* the chemical composition of certain 

 fossil and recent shells, which had hitherto been thought ex- 

 clusively to distinguish the skeletons of vortebi'ate animals; 

 the parallelism of the disturbing forces throughout the Sihrrian, 

 Devonian, and Carboniferous eras ; and more particularly, the 

 researches on the metamorphism of rocks, which seem to es- 

 tablish with certainty, that not only the crj\stalline formation of 

 the great Apalachian chain, but also the still older rocks which 

 separate the St. Lawrence from the Arctic Ocean, are merely 

 stratified sedimentary deposits in an altered condition. 



Of more immediate practical interest is the knowledge gained 

 of the mineral wealth of our country. Besides building mate- 

 rials of all kinds, and limestone, the discovery of which in some 

 parts is of as much practical value as that of gold itself, there 

 is the copper of Lakes Huron and Superior, the slates, marbles, 



* This is a mi.stake which should not have occurred ; the rcul dis- 

 coverer being the lato Mr. Abraham, of the Montreal Gazette. Sir. 

 Logan mentions this fact in his Report for 1851-52, page 10. 



serpentines, soapstones, and iron and copper ores of the mineral 

 region south of the St. Lawrence, and the magnetic iron ores 

 of the Laurentine formation, of greater extent and value than 

 exist probably in the rest of the known world. 



Upon the whole, with the single cxcepticn of coal, the 

 Canadas, on the testimony of Professor Hall, have been shown to 

 stand higher in respect of their mineral products than any of 

 the surrounding states. All these and numerous other economic 

 materials, a list of which is given in the report of 1849, 1850, 

 and the description of the London Exhibition of 1851, if not 

 actually first discovered by the survey, have been made gene- 

 rally known, the formations which yield them pointed out, and 

 in many instances the localities, where they can be profitably 

 worked, indicated. 



Whilst the survey was in progress, a veiy large collection of 

 specimens has been brought together, with the intention of 

 illustrating, not only the science of Canadian geology, but its 

 practical application in the supply of useful materials, the whole 

 of which are now deposited at the house of the survey at Mon- 

 treal. 



Such is the present result of the Canadian Geological Survey, 

 and although much remains to be done, considering the vast 

 extent of country under examination, the difiieulties presented 

 by the uninhabited state of much of it, the total absence of 

 reliable topographical maps, and the .short period of each year 

 which our climate renders available for the field work, your 

 Committee think they may pronounce with confidence, that in 

 no part of the world has there been a more valuable contribu- 

 tion to geological science for such a small outlay (hardly more 

 than £20,000 in all). In confirmation of this opinion your 

 Committee would refer to the letter of Professor Agassiz, 

 and the evidence of Profe.ssor Hall, and to the opinions of 

 scientific men quoted by Mr. Logan and Mr. Hunt. They 

 beg also to add two other quotations, as showing the estima- 

 tion in which our survey is held by men of science in Eng- 

 land and France. " In Canada especially, there has been 

 proceeding for some years one of the most extensive and 

 important Geological Surveys now going on in the world. The 

 enthusiasm and disinterestedness of a thoroughly qualified 

 and judicious observer, Mr. Logan, whose name will ever stand 

 high in the roll of votaries of his favorite science, have con- 

 ferred upon this great work a wide-spread fame." — London 

 Quartertij Review, October, 1854. 



" De toutes les colonies Anglaises, le Canada est celle dont 

 I'exposition est la plus interessante et la plus complete, on pent 

 mCme dire qu'elle est superieure ^ I'exposition minerale de 

 toutes les contrees qui ont envoye des produits a Londres ; 

 cette supuriorite vient de ce qu'elle a etc faite d'une maniere 

 syst6matique ; il en resulte que son examen fournit des moyens 

 d'apprecier ii la fois la constitution geologique et les ressources 

 miuorales du Canada. Cette circonstance vient dc ce que 

 notre collogue, 31. Logan, qui remplit dans le Canada, les fonc- 

 tions de Geological Surveyor, a preside sur les lieux aux choix 

 dc la plupart des iJchantillons qui ont ett" en\oyes a I'exposi- 

 tion, et qu'il les a classes depuis Icur arrlvee a Londres." — 

 M. Dufrcnoi/, memhrc de I'inslitut, in the Jury Reports of the 

 London Exhibition. 



It is mortifying to your Committee to have to report, that 

 results of so much value are almost inaccessible to the public, 

 and that a great proportion of the inhabitants of Canada, if not 

 ignorant of the existence of the survey, are at least unacquainted 

 with what it has achieved. The annual reports arc presented 

 to Parliament, and buried in the Journals of the House, except 

 a few hundred copies, which are distributed by Members amongst- 



