31 

 ANNOTATED GUIDE. 



Miles and 

 Kilometres. 



194-9 ™- Frank — On leaving Frank the valley rapidly 



313-7 km. contracts, passing through a narrow gorge 

 between Turtle and Bluff mountains, locally 

 known as the "Gap." At its eastern entrance 

 a large brick building was built some years ago 

 by the Canada Metals Company for the reduc- 

 tion of zinc ores from the Slocan district of 

 British Columbia. It has never been operated. 

 A few hundred yards further west, near the 

 contact of the Kootenay and the limestone, a 

 strong sulphur spring occurs, which, although 

 cold, is largely used for medicinal purposes. 



About one and one-half miles (2-4 km.) 

 west of Frank the western contact between the 

 Mesozoic and the Palaeozoic rocks is reached. 

 In this case the contact is a normal one, the 

 Fernie shales lying apparently conformably on 

 the limestone. This is the only outcrop of the 

 Fernie east of the Rocky mountains on the line 

 of the railway, but, even here exposures are 

 very infrequent owing to the soft and readily 

 weathering nature of the beds, which consist 

 almost entirely of soft dark shales with a few 

 thin arenaceous beds and, towards the top, a 

 notable bed of dark green, very soft, crumbly 

 sandstone. The Kootenay follows the Fernie 

 in regular ascending order, a hard siliceous 

 conglomerate forming its uppermost member 

 which crosses the valley through the town of 

 Blairmore. 



196-7 m. Blairmore — Altitude 4,226 ft. (1,633-8 m.). 



316-5 km. At this point the West Canadian Collieries are 

 operating a mine on the south side of the 

 railway, with an output from 700 to 1,000 tons 

 a day. The coal seams have also been pros- 

 pected for some distance north of the track. 

 At Blairmore, the Rocky Mountain Cement 

 Company is utilizing the Carboniferous lime- 

 stone and the Fernie shales in the manufacture 

 of cement; both materials are quarried in 

 open pits and transported to the plant by 



