Ji, ri< ir (if li- If i,f iiotlnijh-iil Lif'i-iifiii'. .".'.to 
geologic reeonnuissiiiicc wiiicli is Iuto describcil in (jii pages, witli :i map. 
These long and narrow lakes, lueasuriiig rcspc'ftivel}' about fi4, 4<;. und 
."it jiiiles in length from nortli to south, and one to two miles in width, 
eecupy basins that were probably preglacial river valleys of similar 
origin with the fjords of the <-oast. Of two soundings in the Ipper 
Arrow lake, one showed a depth <»f -H»l) feet, and the otiicr failed to 
reach the bottom at 720 feet. In the i.(jwer Arrow lake the deepest of 
three soundings was 400 feet. Kootaiiie lake is probalily deeper than 
either of these, but was not sounded. 'i'jieir approximate bights above 
the sea are as follows : L'pper .\rrow laUe, 1.;!'.I0 feet: I-ower Arrow 
lake, l,:5S0feet: and Kootanie, 1,7;]0 feet. The Gold and Selkirk mountain 
ranges rise steeply on each side of these lakes to elevations 4.n()(t to 
l),000 feet above the sea. 
A general section of the rocks exposed in these portions of the Cordil- 
leran belt is as follows, in descending order : — 
(Treenish and grey schists, Avith many beds of limestone in the Feet. 
lower part 2.000 
Limestone or inarlde, ofteii banded with siliceous layers, and 
associated with black argillite and grey schists J.-lOO 
ChieHy greenish schists, with some gre}' schists 4.0-'iO 
('hieti}' grey schists, and including some greenish schists, consti- 
tuting, with the last foregoing, the Adams Lake series s,(;.")0 
Black, shaly or schistose argillites, Avith much tlark liniestone, 
both being often more or less micaceous, nameij the Xiscon- 
lith series, probably 1 .(i(i() 
Mica schists, gneisses, and marbles, com|)letely crystalline ai\d 
often highly siliceous, named the Shuswap series .").0U(» 
The total estimated ibickness of strata is thus 2:!."J()0 feet. No dis- 
tinct unconformity is found throughout the entire section, but the lowest 
division is provisionally referreil to the Arclia'au, while the liigher for- 
mations, though destitute of fossils, are thought by Dr. Dawson to n-iu-e- 
sent various periods through the Avhole I'ala'ozoic era, from the l.f)wer 
Cambrain uji to the Carboniferous, inclusive. IJesides these stratified 
formations, granites and granitoid rocks occupy a large part of tlu' West 
Ivootanie district, their principal area being the basin <if the Lower 
Arrow lake. 
Nearly all the metalliferous deposits occur in the stratilied rocks, hi 
the Shuswap series they are mostly galena, Avith some blende and pyrites, 
and are of Ioav grade as to their content of silver. Uich argcutiferous 
veins traversi- the Adams Lake series and the next overlyiiiu' limestones 
and argillite schists. 
On the top of Toad mountain, which lies near the juuctioM of the 
Kootanie river with 1 lie Columbia, at a distance of about rwent\-tive 
miles north of the international boundary, gla<;ial stria- in liearings be 
tween S. (> and :»;» K. were found at the altitude of (i,i)!)0 feet above the 
sea. They are attributed by Dr. Dawson to an ice sheet that was accum- 
ulated on the Cordillerau mountain belt in British Columbia, adjacent 
portions of the rnite<l States, and the Northwest Tcrritorv of Canada, 
