66 
GEOLOGY-COAL OF VANCOUVER’S ISLAND. 
true coal, and furnishes a better fuel than that of the upper Missouri, hut this is doubtless, in 
a great degree, due to the metamorphic action of erupted rocks which, as we have seen, have 
in so many places disturbed the tertiary strata. The close affinity, and probable synchronism, 
of the lignites of the upper Missouri and those of the Pacific coast is proved from the flora of 
these deposits, and has already been referred to. Until further information shall be obtained 
in reference to the relationship existing between the cretaceous rocks of Vancouver’s island and 
the coal found there, the age of that coal can only be conjectured. The character of this coal, 
its resemblance to that of Bellingham hay, and the proximity of the two localities, give us 
reason to suspect that they belong to the same age and are equivalents of each other. 
And it is at least presumable that the strata which enclose the coal overlie the cretaceous 
rocks occupying the same relative positions as the chalk and lignite beds of the Missouri. 
In a preceding chapter of this report I had occasion to notice the existence of cretaceous rocks 
near the upper end of the Sacramento valley, and, in the same connexion, referred to exposures 
of carboniferous limestone in localities not far distant. When the connexion shall he traced 
between these deposits, and the relations which they hold to the widely spread tertiary strata of 
the Pacific coast ascertained, it seems not improbable that, having there at different points all 
the principal elements which compose the geological structure of the eastern slope of the Bocky 
mountains, we shall he able to combine them in such a way as to establish a much more com¬ 
plete parallelism between the eastern and western sides of the continent than has been hitherto 
suspected. Among the fossils brought from Vancouver’s island there is a large number, 
including many species, which are apparently not cretaceous, and which are very unlike any of 
the many tertiary fossils which have been collected at various points on the western coast. 
They are contained in a soft, greenish sandstone, and have been regarded by Mr. Meek, to 
whom they have been submitted, as probably indicative of strata of Jurassic age. The genera 
represented are, perhaps, not peculiar to that period, and the species are, without exception, 
new; hut he regards them as presenting forms which are rather Oolitic or Jurassic, than 
cretaceous or tertiary. If the strata from which they are derived should be found to occupy a 
lower position than those yielding the cretaceous fossils, we should, perhaps, have then a 
representative of the Jurassic strata which underlie the chalk on the Atlantic coast, and 
probably throughout a large area in the interior of the continent. 
PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERS. 
The coal from the Island of Vancouver resembles in many respects, as has been stated, that 
from Bellingham hay, and is more compact and crystalline than any of the tertiary lignites 
I have seen. It is as hard and handsome as many of the coals derived from the basins of the 
Mississippi valley, and, like many of the coals of the carboniferous period, exhibites scales of 
carbonate of lime in its joints. Its chemical composition, however, shows that, although a 
very well finished article, it is comparatively of recent date. 
It is composed of— 
Fixed carbon.. 51.81 
Volatile matter. 44.30 
Ashes. 3.89 
Total. 100.00 
I saw several cargoes of this coal in San Francisco, where it has been used for several years. 
