consist of the usual alternations of sandstone, shale, and coal, and are of immense thickness. The chief fossils found are species of Platanus, Alnus, Acer, Taxus, Taxodium, and Juniperus. The coal is better and harder than that of either Coose Bay, or, I think, De Fucas Strait (Clallam Bay); and owing to the action of eruptive traps and metamorphic rocks, approaches nearer to true coal than any other tertiary lignite on the coast. The following is the analysis as given by Professor W. P. Blake, one of our Foreign Corresponding Fellows:-* 5. Other localities for Tertiary Coal.-Northward of Bellingham Bay the same coal crops cut. On Fraser River, opposite Fort Langely; at Burrard Inlet; on various of the more southerly islands in the Haro Archipelago (Orcas, &c.); on Saanich Peninsula, Vancouver Island; and on the Vancouver shore of De Fucas Strait, near Sherringham Point, some few miles to the east of the Jordan River, it is seen in the cliffs in seams of some two feet to a few inches. In none of these localities has it, however, been wrought, either on account of the want of capital, ignorance of its value, or the inferior character of the out-crop. At Burrard Inlet, however, the Hudson Bay Company did many years ago intend opening mines, but the project was abandoned, on the better coal-seams of Nanaimo being discovered. Since then, the not overthriving town of New Westminster having been founded as the capital of the colony of British Columbia, in proximity to the Inlet, a new company attempted to open out the mines, but I cannot learn that they succeeded. At Saanich, the discovery of coal is of importance on account of its proximity to the town of Victoria, and various attempts have been made to render it available. The last account I had from that quarter informs me that a seam four feet in thickness has been found, and that the proprietors are sanguine as to their ultimate prospects of success. The general ignorance, not only among the colonists, but also among mining engineers on the coast, of the different qualities of the coal-fields, even of the existence of more than one on the island, renders it difficult to arrive at a true estimate of the value of any particular discovery. I believe, however, that the coals here enumerated, and all found south of the Chemainos River, are of tertiary age-the cretaceous series commencing north of that locality. In 1864, we found coal cropping out in a strear, falling into the Sooke River, not far from where we subsequently discovered the gold mines of Leech River, on the * Pac. Railroad, Rep. v.; and Newberry, Id. lib. iv. 64. Kokeseilah River, where gold in small quantities has also been discovered,* as well as on a stream falling into the Cowichan River. All of these coals, however, I believe to belong to the tertiary epoch, and almost, without doubt, to the same period as those already described, namely, the Miocene period. 6. Newer Tertiary Lignites.-Though the only lignites on the North Pacific coast, capable of being utilised as fuel, are of Miocene age, yet there are other lignites of a much more recent date, probably Pleistocene. The cliff at Useless Bay, Whidby's Island, shows the following section : 1. Alluvial Soil. 2. Boulder Clay. 3. Lignite in thin horizontal stra- 4. Sand. 5. Lignite. 9. Lignite. This lignite is scarcely yet much changed from its former. woody structure, and is quite useless for fuel. In this and other neighbouring localities, in the clays, are found abundant remains of the mastodon, and traditions of the existence of that animal still exist among the Indian tribes of the vicinity.† IV. SECONDARY COALS.-The whole coast of Vancouver Island, on the east coast, north of Chemainos, and round to Koskeemo Sound, on the westward, and for some distance into the interior, is bounded by a belt of carboniferous strata-composed of sandstones, shales, and coarse gravel-stone conglomerates, interstratified with which are beds of coal of much superior character to any hitherto described. These beds, from the fossils they contain, appear to be cretaceous. Everywhere the strata named form a characteristic accompaniment of the coal, especially this coarse conglomerate just named; and nearly everywhere it is underlaid by one or more seams of coal. Hitherto we have only found it cropping out at some points of the circuit named, though it may reasonably be supposed yet to be found on the opposite shores of British Columbia. The wall of the deep fjords indenting this part of the coast everywhere are, however, in most cases composed of trap and other igneous rocks, and whatever sedimentary rocks may at one time have reposed on their flanks, have now been washed off by the action of denudation. These localities are in order going north. 1. In Chemainos district, near the river of the same name.Here the characteristic conglomerates prevail, and the Indians told me a very circumstantial story of an out-crop of coal in the mountain. I was however unable to find it, but have, neverthe See my official "Explorations in Vancouver Island" (Victoria, 1864), and "Das Innere der Vancouver Insel," Petermann's Geographische Mittheilungen, 1869. See a letter by the writer of this paper to Professor Rupert Jones in Reliquiæ Aquitanica (Lartet and Christy), part vi. less, no doubt but that such exists. North of this point the sandstones associated with the coal strata show along the coast, and in some places are fretted and worn into grottoes and caverns. Coal has been bored for here; but I am not aware that, so far as the sinkings have progressed, that the seams have been passed through. 2. De Courcy Islands.-On one of these islands we discovered coal, two feet in thickness, in the cliffs, almost concealed by the foliage, and accompanied, as elsewhere, by shales, sandstone, and conglomerates. 3. Nanaimo. It is, however, at Nanaimo that these coals, of cretaceous age, have attained their greatest development. Some fifteen years ago this coal was discovered by the Indians, and by them communicated to the Hudson Bay Company, who commenced to work it, and continued to do so until 1861, when they sold out to an English Company, who have ever since continued to prosecute their works with considerable vigour. This year they have declared a dividend of fifteen per cent. They are the only coal-producing company in the island, and have now a town of some 500 inhabitants around the mines, with a railway and locomotive conveying the coal to the "shoots," under which the ships load. At present they only work one pit on the mainland, though on the off-lying islands (such as Newcastle Island) the same coalmeasures prevail. On this island the Hudson Bay Company wrought coal for some years. The dip of the strata is acute, and the strike seaward, so that in any borings a considerable depth must be sought before the upper seams can be found. A section of the pit at present wrought will give a key to the whole subject of the nature of the lithology of the coal-seams. It will be noticed that in it the conglomerate does not appear; but again on the island, and nearer the shore, it shows itself. Dr Hector has furnished a problematical section of this coal,* and though some of its details are erroneous, it may be received as a fair diagrammatic view of the strata here. The strata in the pit in descending order are 1. Alluvial soil, gravels, sand. 2. Five feet hard sandstone. 3. Nine feet shale. 5. Eighteen feet blue shales. 4. Two feet four inches fine sandstone. 8. Finer gritty sandstone. This forms the floor of the pit, which is 121 feet in depth, but it is expected that under this will be found other seams of coal. There are eight inclines in the dip of the length of 400 yards. The bearing of the level is 24° E. of S., and the dip from 1 to 31°. At present there are forty-seven men employed on the works, and some eighteen supernumeraries. About 120 tons of coal were raised per diem at the time of my last visit. * Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1861, vol. xvii. pl. xiii. p. 388. This coal is sold at $7 per ton to vessels calling, and to those loading for San Francisco, when import duties are chargeable on it, at $6 per ton. In San Francisco it brings $13 per ton; and at Victoria, only ninety miles south, where it is chiefly used, being brought down by small schooners, it is sold retail at $11 per ton.* The following tables show the particulars of the export for last year : Table showing the Coal Exported from Nanaimo, for the year ending Of the above shipments in 1868 there were shipped to 12,538 15 3a. Character of the Nanaimo Coal.-The coal itself is bright, tolerably hard, and not unlike some of the best qualities of English or Welsh coal in appearance. It burns freely with a good heat, but produces a great amount of ash. It is universally used by all Her Majesty's ships on the coast, and by all of the Colonial and other steamers plying on the coast. It is highly valued as fuel for domestic purposes, both in Victoria, San Francisco, and other towns. Gas is manufactured from it at Victoria of good illuminating quality. No fire-damp has hitherto been found in the mine. The coal is easily wrought; a miner being able, under *The following note with which I am favoured by Mr S. M. Robins, the Secy. of the Vancouver Coal Company," shows the export for the last six years:—1863, 21,394 tons; 1864, 28,632 tons; 1865, 32,819 tons; 1866, 25,115 tons; 1867, 31,239 tons; 1868, 43,778. favourable circumstances, to take out about 2 tons in his working time, which at the rate of 5s. per ton for his clear dressed coal, will net him about 11s. per diem. Most of the miners are from Scotland or Lancashire, and generally employ an Indian to clean their coal for them. They rarely work a full day, preferring to earn a constant moderate wage, rather than run the chance of getting the price lowered, by their producing the coal in greater quantities. An analysis of the coal by Dr Newberry gives : : A second (which I have adopted) made from better specimens gives: 3b. Fossil Remains. In the sandstones are found various species of Inoceramus, Baculites, Ammonites (commonly), Pecten, Natica, Mactra, Tellina, Trigonia, Emori, Cythera leonensis (very common), Arca, Exogyra, Ostrea, Rostellaria, Psammobia, &c.; and in the shales various specimens of dicotylodonous and monocotylodonous plants, the leaves of which are perfectly preserved. The plant remains are wholly confined to the shales, and the animal almost entirely to the sandstones. Further north, fossils are found in nodules of sandstone which have fallen from the cliff, and got worn round by the action of the waves. Out of the shales here flows a salt spring, which produces salt of good quality.* Behind, and out of the limits of the present Coal Company's grant, the beds of coal crop out again, showing in one place a clear face of 11 feet of pure coal. This has been taken up by the "Harewood Company"-an English concern, but as yet nothing has been done to develope the mines. The whole of this coal-field is, however, much broken up by faults and other disturbing influences. 4. Bayne's Sound, Brown's River, &c.-North of Nanaimo the coal strata disappear for some distance, but on the shores of Bayne's Sound coal has been found in considerable quantity, and *The spring is capable of supplying about a gallon a minute. The brine has a specific gravity of 10-60, and yields, on analysis, 3.446 grains of salt to the imperial gallon. Another spring on Salt Spring Island yields 4.994 grains per imperial gallon. |
