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even traces of gold, should exist in the drift deposits of any part of this 
82 B. N. A. BOUNDARY COMMISSION. 
section; one of them was found to be as much as six feet long, witha ~ 
thickness of about two feet in the middle. The general substance of the 
concretions is nearly black in colour, and hard; and is composed of argilla- 
ceous matter, cemented together with calcic carbonate, and not highly 
ferruginous. ‘The veins which traverse them in all directions, are 
composed of white and amber-coloured calcite. In certain layers of the 
section, well formed selenite crystals are found in great abundance. 
They are oftén several inches in length and quite transparent, and some- 
times form radiating groups. Some parts of the clay-shale yield also to 
careful search numerous fragmentary remains of small teleostian fishes, 
consisting of detached scales, and bones, chiefly from the vertebral column. 
(Plate 18.) These organic remains are of an inconspicuous brown colour, 
and little altered ; and from the crumbling nature of the matrix are very 
difficult to preserve as specimens. 
188. Pembina River, where it debouches from the escarpment at St. 
Joseph’s—a small settlement of half-breeds, a few miles south of the 
Line—does not show any good sections of the Cretaceous formation, its 
high banks being composed of drift material. I was unable to trace the 
rumours of the occurence of gold, coal, and other valuable minerals, in 
this locality, to any authentic source.* That fragments of lignite, or 
region, is not impossible; but it is more probable that the reports 
concerning the latter, have arisen from the discovery of iron pyrites in 
the Cretaceous clays. 
189. The course of the Pembina River, west of the escarpment, will 
be seen on reference to the map. Where crossed by the Commission 
Trail, nearly twenty miles west of the edge of the escarpment, and about 
ten north of the Line, sections of the Cretaceous rocks are again found. 
The river, though not more than thirty or forty feet in width, here flows 
in an immense valley, about a mile wide, and three hundred feet in 
depth. The banks of the valley are remarkably abrupt and steep, and 
in any formation composed of harder, or less uniformly soft rocks than 
those of this part of the Cretaceous, would no doubt afford numerous and 
fine exposures. As it is, comparatively few sections are to be found, and 
these in the form, merely, of steep weathered banks, in which the 
original stratification is not apparent till they have been scarped down 
with the pick and shovel. 


* Rumours prevalent at least since 1852. See Dr. D. D. Owen’s Report on Wisconsin, Iowa and Min- 
nesota, 

