
244 B. N. A. BOUNDARY COMMISSION. 
the immediate foot-hills of the mountains is due. The brook issuing 
eastward from the mouth of the South Kootanie Pass, has cut through a: 
great thickness of clean gravel drift, composed of large and uniform, well 
rounded pebbles, of which the general tint, as viewed from a distance, is 
pale purple. Above the bed of the brook, on the flanks of the mountains, 
on the south side, are some well preserved terraces. In one place these 
were observed to have suffered an apparent dislocation, the top of each 
terrace on one side, corresponding in elevation with the middle of the slope 
of that on the opposite side; the two systems being separated only, by a 
straight narrow water-furrow down the mountain side. The arrange- 
ment altogether was highly suggestive of faulting on a small scale, since 
the formation of the terraces ; an explanation rendered the more pro- 
bable from the fact, that terraces on the west side of the mountains © 
discribed by Dr. Hector, seem also to have been affected by very recent 
movements.* The highest of these terraces in the Kootanie Pass, though 
its altitude was not actually measured, was estimated from that of the 
pass, to be about 4,400 feet above the level of the sea, and above this no 
reliable sea-mark was found. From the position of the terraces in the 
open eastern throat of the pass, from which the ground falls rapidly away, - 
it would appear that they cannot have been formed by any smaller sheet 
of water; nor would the nature of the locality allow me to explain their 
formation on any hypothesis of a former moraine blocking up the valley. 
566. The material of the drift, westward from a line which may 
be drawn near the valley of the St. Mary River, appears to be composed 
altogether of the debris of the mountains of this immediate vicinity ; nor 
were any fragments seen which could not with great propriety be assigned 
to one or other of the beds observed in place. The gold, which is known 
to exist in small quantity, in almost all the streams which have been 
prospected for it, can therefore hardly have other origin than that of the 
drift, of which it appears to form a part. Though no metaliferous veins 
were observed in this part of the mountains, they are found southward in 
Montana, and may exist also here, but if so nothing was observed which 
would lead to the belief that they were either rich or numerous. 
567. About four miles westward from the West Fork, in the valley 
of the Kootanie Pass, well preserved glacial stris# were found, on a surface 
of hard green slate. Their direction was 8. 40° W. (mag.) or coincident 
with that of the main trough of the valley. This is the only locality in 

* Exploration of British North America, p. 317, 
