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Bureau of

mines, provincial museum and statistics.

missioners that if the duty of providing instruction of this character devolves upon the Government the obvious plan is to take advantage of the means which are available in the University courses of study, and to make such additions of instructors and appliances as may be necessary for a thorough equipment. And for economic and educational purposes of the first importance your Commissioners further recommend the establishing of a bureau of mines for the purpose of making a complete geological survey of the Province, and a museum of geology and mineralogy to represent its rock formations, minerals and metallurgical products, together with an efficient plan for the collection of yearly statistics of the mining and metallurgical industries of the Province, as indicated in Section VI of their Report herewith respectfully submitted for Your Honor's consideration.

(Signed)

JOHN CHARLTON, Chairman.
ROBERT BELL.

WILLIAM COE.

WM. HAMILTON MERRITT.
ARCHIBALD BLUE, Secretary.

TORONTO, April, 1890.

SECTION I.

GEOLOGY OF ONTARIO, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
ECONOMIC MINERALS.

The following sketch of the Geology of Ontario being intended for the use of persons who may not be familiar with the technical terms of Technical terms. geological science, the writer has endeavored to avoid these as much as possible, but where it has been necessary to employ them their meanings have been briefly given. For the same reason some elementary geological explanations have been incorporated, and a short glossary of technical words added at the end of the report, to save the non-scientific reader the trouble of referring to geological manuals or text-books. On the other hand, while this report will contain many new facts for geological readers, they must expect to find them stated in simple language. The limits imposed on the writer have permitted only a brief reference to each part of the subject, but it has been his endeavour to allot the space impartially to all. If, therefore, those who may be most interested in any one branch should find the description of it too short to satisfy them, they must consider the claims of all the others. It is hoped that, should the demand warrant it, a fuller report may be issued at a future time.

territory.

Owing to the uncertainty which has heretofore prevailed in reference to the northern boundary of the province, it will be necessary in attempt- Bounds of the ing a geological description of Ontario to state at the outset how far we understand our territory to extend in that direction. For the purposes of description we will assume that the Albany river is the northern boundary all the way to the sea, and that a meridian line from James bay to the head of lake Temiscaming, and the Ottawa river thence to Point Fortune, constitute the eastern boundary.

In order to facilitate our description and to prevent repetition we will here present a table, showing in their proper order all the divisions of the rocks of the province. [See next page.]

Igneous or eruptive rocks may be of any geological age, and those which -occur in Ontario will be noticed in describing the systems or formations to Gaps in the which they are supposed to belong. In the list of the table the divisions of the System. rocks of Ontario are presented in their natural order of succession. It does not by any means represent the complete geological scale, comprising only the newest and some of the oldest systems. There is an enormous gap between the Post Tertiary and the Devonian, which in a complete section of the earth's crust would be filled up (in descending order) with the Tertiary, Cretaceous, Triassic, Permian and Carboniferous. The whole of the

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POST TERTIARY. Saugeen Clay, Artemesia Gravel, Algoma Sand.

Sand, Gravel and Shingle of the country north of the Great Lakes.

Erie Clay, Calcareous and Non-calcareous Clays north of the Great Lakes.

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geological scale is not found in any one region of the surface of the earth, but the order of succession has been ascertained by tracing the connection of one with another, principally by the aid of the fossils or organic remains which they contain. Between the time of the deposition of the highest or newest of our Devonian rocks and the oldest of the Post Tertiary a vast interval elapsed, during which this part of the world may have been dry land and little or nothing may have been deposited upon it. But it is far more likely that rocks of some, at least, of the systems now wanting were laid down which have long since decayed and disappeared through the action of denuding agencies; while elsewhere the conditions have been more favorable for the preservation of some of them in one country and others in another.

sions.

In describing the rock-formations of Ontario we propose to begin at the bottom of the scale, or with the oldest, and proceed in the natural order Geological divior that of their age. First, however, a few words may be necessary in regard to the terms employed and the names of the divisions themselves.

The term 'system' in geology is used to designate great series of strata characterised by such similarity that they may stand together,' as system. the word implies. In the Azoic or Archæan division the rocks themselves comprising a system have certain points of resemblance in common, while among the fossiliferous strata each system is recognised by the remains of some prevailing forms of animal or plant life. The systems are intermediate in comprehensiveness between the periods or ages and the formations, each system usually comprising several formations.

The 'formation' constitutes, as it were, the unit in the geological classification or grouping of the rocks. Among fossiliferous rocks each formation Formation. comprises strata which may be distinguished from all others by their organic forms, most of which are peculiar to such formation. Non-fossiliferous formations comprise rocks which have a recognised position in the scale, or which possess some strong points of resemblance sufficient to distinguish them; or they consist of rocks which have been formed under similar conditions and, as far as can be ascertained, at about the same time. Unfortunately the term formation has been employed by some geologists rather loosely, or without a uniform and definite signification, and of late years an attempt is being made to give it a more extended meaning, by which it would take the place of the well-established term 'system.'

The word 'group,' which is so often used in geological language, is another which does not yet enjoy a universally established meaning. Here Group. tofore Canadian geologists have been accustomed to use it as intermediate in comprehensiveness between system and formation. Thus we spoke of the St. John group, the Quebec group, the Trenton group, the Anticosti group, each embracing a number of formations. At the present time some European geologists are seeking to give the term a larger signification, equivalent to system, or even period.

But the word which has been used most loosely of all in geological language is 'series,' which is still made to do duty wherever there is any uncertainty as to the rank of any set of rocks.

Series.

Ontario names for Systems and Formations.

In regard to the proper names for the various divisions of our rocks the late Sir William Logan, when he undertook the geological survey of the province of Canada in 1842, wisely foresaw the advantage of adopting the names already in use in the state of New York, adjoining us. In this way there was no confusion, and everyone understood without further explanation the positions of our various formations as described by Logan under these names. Geological formations are distributed in the crust of the earth without reference to national boundaries, and true geologists are the most cosmopolitan of men, the whole earth being their field of research, as the very name 'geology' implies. The New York state and other American geologists had adopted the names for the systems which had been given in England, such as Cambrian, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, etc., but as the subdivisions or formations in America could not be closely correlated with those of England, local names had to be adopted. Most of the formations of Upper and Lower Canada were found to be continuous with those of the adjoining states, so that the names for these were applicable on both sides of the international boundary line. In a few cases, such as that of the Hamilton formation, named after the village of Hamilton in Madison county, N.Y., some misconception has arisen from the supposition that the name is derived from our own city of Hamilton. Professor Chapman has proposed the alternative name Lambton formation, as it occurs chiefly in Lambton county in Ontario. One of our Ontario formations, the Guelph, is not represented in the state of New York, and the name which it bears was proposed for it in 1861 by Dr. Bell, of the Geological Survey, after the city of Guelph, which is built upon it. The name Nipigon was proposed by the same gentleman for one of the lake Superior formations, on account of its local importance and peculiarities, and because of a doubt as to its equivalency with any of the formations which had been already named.

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The Saugeen Clay, Artemesia Gravel, Algoma Sand and Erie Clay, the names of which were also proposed by Dr. Bell, and adopted by Sir William Logan in the Geology of Canada,' constitute formations which are distinguished mainly by the characters of the deposits themselves, although organic remains have been found in some of them. The name Animikie, for an important formation on the north-west shore of lake Superior, was proposed by Dr. T. Sterry Hunt in 1871, two days before Dr. Bell had suggested Lower Nipigon for the same formation, and the former term has been retained. The terms Huronian and Laurentian were given by Logan and Hunt early in the history of the Geological Survey, and have been followed by geologists, not only for Canada, but in all quarters of the globe where rocks of corresponding systems exist. About the same time the name 'Lawrentian' was suggested by another geologist for the Post Tertiary clays and sands of Vermont and Lower Canada, but it was soon after dropped, these deposits becoming known as the Champlain clays and sands.

Other names for some of the systems and formations represented in Ontario have been more or less employed by geologists, and these will be mentioned in the more detailed descriptions to follow; but in order to preserve simplicity they have not been given in the table.

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