478 APPENDIX 



and of great prospective value to the treeless regions of Canada 

 and the United States to the south, the growth on the Lauren- 

 tian formation being scant, but the alluvial portion has upon 

 it (on the river of its name and elsewhere) the "Liard," a 

 balsam poplar, sometimes called Balm of Gilead or rough bark 

 poplar, 120 feet high, with a stump diameter of 5 to 6 feet. 

 The white spruce, 150 feet high, with a stump diameter of 4 

 to 5 feet; the larch, of about the same size, and the hanhsian 

 pine, whose straight stem is often 100 feet long, with only 2 

 feet of diameter at the stump. \ 



17th. Of the mines of this vast region little is known of that 

 part east of the Mackenzie Eiver and north of Great Slave 

 Lake. Of the western af9uents of the Mackenzie enough is 

 known to show that on the headwaters of the Peace, Liard and 

 Peel rivers there are from 150,000 to 200,000 square miles 

 which may be considered auriferous, while Canada possesses 

 west of the Eoclcy Mountains a metalliferous area, principally 

 of gold-yielding rocks, thirteen hundred miles in length, with 

 an average breadth of four to five hundred miles, giving an 

 area far greater than that of the similar mining districts of the 

 neighbouring Eepublic. 



18th. In addition to these auriferous deposits, gold has been 

 found on the west shore of Hudson Bay, and has been said to 

 exist in certain portions of the Barren Grounds. Silver on the 

 Upper Liard and Peace rivers, copper upon the Coppermine 

 Eiver, which may be connected with an eastern arm of Great 

 Bear Lake by a tramway of 40 miles; iron, graphite, ochre, 

 brick and pottery clay, mica, gypsum, lime and sandstone, sand 

 for glass and moulding, and asphaltum, are all known to exist, 

 while the petroleum area is so extensive as to justify the belief 

 that eventually it will supply the larger part of this continent 

 and be shipped from Churchill or some more northern Hudson 

 Bay port to England. 



19th. Salt and sulphur deposits are less extensive, but the 

 former is found in crystals equal in purity to the best rock 

 salt and in highly saline springs, while 'the latter is found in 

 the form of pyrites, and the fact that these petroleum and salt 

 deposits occur mainly near the line of division between deep 

 water navigation and that fitted for lighter craft, give them 

 a possible great commercial value. The extensive coal and 

 lignite deposits of the Lower Mackenzie and elsewhere will be 

 found to be of great value when the question of reducing its 

 iron ores and the transportation of the products of this vast 



