522 



SCIEJS^CE, 



[Vol. YI., No. 149. 



rence which are and must always remain the 

 chief seats of population and wealth, and an accu- 

 rate knowledge of which must therefore always 

 be of prime importance. This result is now in a 

 large measure accomplished ; and meanwhile the 

 external conditions have greatly changed. The 

 Canadian Pacific railway has connected the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence with the Gulf of Georgia, and 

 flourishing communities have arisen in British 

 Columbia and Manitoba. With this tide of immi- 

 gration and development in the far west has come 

 not only the possibility, but the necessity, of greatly 

 extending the field and changing the plan of the 

 survey. The outlines of the geology of a vast 

 region are being rapidly traced, while the elabora- 

 tion of details is mainly left to the future, save 

 where there is promise of important economic de- 

 velopments. 



The ' Report of progress of the Canadian geolo- 

 gical survey for 1882-84,' ' includes, besides the sum- 

 mary report of the director and two contributions 

 from the chemist of the survey on the composition 

 of the coals and lignites of the north-west territory, 

 and various building stones and ores, thirteen sepa- 

 rate reports on explorations, in nearly as many 

 different sections of the dominion. These are 

 arranged in geographical order, beginning in the 

 far west ; and it is therefore especially surpris- 

 ing to find that the first report was written 

 twenty-five years ago, though now published for 

 the first time. This is an account of the geology 

 of the country near the 49th parallel, west of the 

 Rocky Mountains, by Mr, H. Bauerman, geologist 

 to the boundary commission. The publication of 

 these rather antiquated observations seems to be 

 justified by the fact that they largely relate to 

 districts which have not been covered by more 

 recent explorations. 



This is followed by the most important of recent 

 contributions to Canadian geology ; Dr. G. M. 

 Dawson's final report of 170 pages, on the region of 

 the Bow and Belly rivers, embracing an area of 

 about 27,000 square miles of prairie and plateau 

 country lying in the angle between the United 

 States boundary and the eastern base of the Rocky 

 Mountains. This district, which touches the paleo- 

 zoic rocks of the mountains, and is based on the 

 cretaceous and Laramie formations, is the first in 

 the north-west territory of which a systematic and 

 proximately complete examination has been made, 

 and is of special importance in consequence of the 

 proximity of the valuable coal and hgnite deposits to 

 the line of the Canadian Pacific railway. These are 

 shown to be wide-spread and practically inexhausti- 



1 Geological survey of Canada. Report of progress for 

 1882-84. Alfred R. C. Selwyn, director. Montreal, Daw- 

 son, 1885. 8°. 



ble ; and the main geological features are so clear and 

 easily read, that, although the details are largely 

 left to the future, the present report and map will 

 be found adequate for a long time. The treeless 

 character of the plains is in a large measure oJffset 

 by the fossil fuels, but their aridity is not thus 

 mitigated. That the climate has become drier 

 in post-glacial times, is very plainly indicated by 

 the broad, deep drainage channels known as 

 coulees, which were evidently formed by large 

 rivers, but are now dry, or nearly so. 



Dr. Robert Bell's report on the Athabasca River 

 gives the results of a rapid geological reconnaissance 

 of the valley of that stream from the 55th parallel 

 to Lake Athabasca. We have here the first definite 

 information concerning a geological section, which, 

 like that on the Bow and Belly rivers, is chiefly 

 remarkable for its simphcity and its promise of im- 

 portant economic developments. It consists of 

 cretaceous marls and sandstones resting horizon- 

 tally but unconformably on horizontal beds of 

 Devonian limestone ; and the lower part of the 

 cretaceous is, over an area of thousands of square 

 miles, supersaturated with asphaltum and petro- 

 leum. In no other extensive petroleum-field, 

 probablj^ are the conditions so simple and so clearly 

 exposed as here. It is very much as if the two 

 thousand feet of barren rock covering the oil-sands 

 of Pennsylvania were removed. In the Athabasca 

 field, too, the much-vexed question of the origin 

 of petroleum seems to find a ready solution, the 

 facts affording substantial support to the theory 

 that the oil has its source in the underlying lime- 

 stone, which is distinctly oleiferous. 



Dr. Bell also accompanied the expedition sent 

 out in 1884 to establish meteorological stations at 

 various points in Hudson's Strait and Bay. But 

 he enjoyed no special facilities, and the desultory 

 observations here published are all that could have 

 been reasonably expected, even from so experienced 

 an observer, especially considering that he was not 

 only the geologist, but the zoologist, botanist, 

 taxidermist, photogTapher, and medical officer of 

 the expedition. The glacial phenomena, past and 

 present, received most attention ; and the interest- 

 ing fact is established that the top of the coast- 

 range of Labrador projected above the ice-sheet, 

 and was not glaciated. This report is accom- 

 panied by lists of the plants, mammals, birds, Crus- 

 tacea, marine invertebrates, and lepidoptera col- 

 lected. 



Professor Laflamme's observations on the Sag- 

 uenay have so greatly extended and multiplied the 

 known areas of Trenton limestone as to suggest 

 that this rock may once have covered the Lauren- 

 tian highlands continuously from the St. Lawrence 

 to Hudson's Bay, this part of the continental nu- 



