SECTIONS IN BOW RIVER VALLEY. 



57 



below old Bow fort, and possibly also at other places. The river here is 

 unnavigable and was not closely examined. 



" Bow river, in its passage through the foothills and for some distance 

 beyond, is bounded by wide terraces floored with river gravels, which rise 

 in an irregular manner to a height of about 250 feet above it. Traces 

 of terraces exist at higher elevations, but the lines are not continuous. 

 The accompanying illustration shows the outline of the valley a mile west 

 of Morley. 



4€00 

 4S0O 

 4400 



4200 

 4100 

 4000 

 ■WOO 

 MOO 



Horizontal Scale 



Figure 5. — Section across Bow Valley at Morley. 

 Showing- the principal terrace, through which niorainic ridges project and in which the 

 present river-valley has been excavated since the Glacial period. At (x) a stone hammer was 

 found in an excavation in the gravels, and it is believed to be contemporaneous with the forma- 

 tion of the small river-terrace indicated. 



" From Cochrane west to the mountains a number of mounds and 

 ridges, evidently of morainic origin, project through the terraces and are 

 scattered along the slopes of the valley to a height of about 300 feet. 

 The ridges are usually several hundred yards in length, 50 feet or more 

 in height, and as a rule are either parallel or inclined at a small angle to 

 the course of the valley. At Morley station such ridges and hills occup}^ 

 a continuous area of fully a square mile.* 



" The drift ridges are usually covered with vegetation and natural sec- 

 tions through them are scarce. The best sections examined were found 

 in some railway cuttings half a mile west of Morley. The exposures here 

 consist of hard boulder-clay of a light drab color, filled with pebbles and 

 boulders of limestone and quartzite. The pebbles seldom exceed three 

 inches in diameter, and while some of them are rounded and water-worn 

 a large proportion are polished and striated. In composition the drift 

 ridges suggest drumlins rather than ordinary moraines, but from their 

 position there seems to be little doubt that they were deposited at the 

 extremity and along the side of the Bow River glacier. Glacial groov- 

 ings, evidently referable to the Bow Valley glacier, were found on the 

 slopes of Bow valley south of Morley at a height of 560 feet above the 

 river or about 260 feet above the morainic ridges just described." 



Reverting to the section across the Bow valley above given by Mr 



* Cf. Report of Progress, Geo!. Survey of Canada, 1882-'84, p. 146 C. 



