﻿1861.] 



HECTOK ltOCKY MOUNTAINS, ETC. 



433 



they have the same characters and relative position, thus showing 

 that they are continuous to that extent. The lowest bed of coal is 

 called the " Newcastle seam," and is worked by levels driven into 

 the outcrop as it rises with the high bank from the shore. The 

 coal or lignite is 6 feet thick, with a floor of sandstone, and a roof 

 of a very tough conglomerate of very small pebbles. The strata have 

 a dip of 20°, so that the method employed succeeds well for taking out 

 small quantities. 



This mine was not being worked when I visited it, but there were 

 large heaps of the coal, waiting for a market, that had been lying 

 there for some years, so that I could judge the effect of the 

 weather on it with great facility. The surface was turned to a 

 rusty brown, and the masses showed a tendency to break up with a 

 slaty fracture — otherwise the exposure had worked but little change. 



Along the shore of the island to the south, the strata of argil- 

 laceous sandstone are seen to dip steadily in the same direction 

 with less and less inclination, until at the southern extremity they 

 are almost horizontal. On Douglas Island there is said to be 

 another seam of coal, from the shales associated with which the fossil 

 leaves are generally procured. I had not an opportunity of visit- 

 ing it, however. On the coast at Nanaituo Harbour the strike of 

 the strata is quite different, but yet they preserve the same character 

 and sequence, Exit Channel seeming to mark a great fault. The 

 little peninsula on which the Hudson Bay Company's establishment 

 stands, and where the coal was first discovered, is also another 

 dislocated portion of the strata, as may be seen by reference to the 

 map. 



At Nanaimo, as on Newcastle Island, there are two seams, the 

 " Newcastle " and the " Douglas," — the first of which is everywhere 

 about 6 feet in thickness, with sometimes a floor of fire-clay, but 

 more generally of sandstone, and the roof consisting of the fine con- 

 glomerate bed, about 60 feet thick, on which rests the Douglas 

 seam with an average thickness of from 3| to 4 feet. The roof of 

 this seam is sometimes of iron-clay-shale, but more often of the 

 same tough conglomerate that it rests upon. On Chase River, 1| 

 mile to the south, the outcrop of a seam has been discovered and 

 worked to a small extent, which they consider to be the " Newcastle 

 seam ;" and as it occurs right in the line of strike, and as they have 

 ascertained the outcrop at several points, it is probable that the 

 beds of coal are continuous. 



In the mines they have met several " stone- faults " or " swells," 

 where the floor rises up and throws the coal-seam out for several 

 fathoms. It is generally represented, however, by a carbonaceous 

 parting. These faults are a source of great expense in the working, as 

 the conglomerate to be pierced is exceedingly tough and compact, so 

 that the blast only brings it away in small pieces. 



In proceeding along the coast towards the mouth of Nanaimo River, 

 the strata consist of argillaceous sandstones with a similar character 

 to those of the southern part of Newcastle Island, and preserving a 

 steady though gentle dip to the E. by S. A short way above the en- 



