2

of this vast territory is unexplored, but geological investigations have been
made along major streams and along the recently constructed Alaska
Highway, so that the general stratigraphic succession has been well estab-
lished.

The authors have here attempted to bring together and to summarize
and co-ordinate all of the available geological information that has been
published on this region. The senior author has written the chapters on
stratigraphy, structure, and historical geology, and part of the chapter on
economic geology; and E. D. Kindle has prepared the introductory chapter,
the chapter on physical faetures, and part of the chapter on economic
geology, and has compiled the accompanying geological map of the regions

The geological map of northeastern British Columbia has been com-
piled largely from geological maps and reports that have been published
from time to time by the Geological Survey of Canada and the British
Columbia Department of Mines. Several unpublished manuscripts have
also been made available by the British Columbia Department of Mines,
and some information supplied by oil company geologists has been incor-
porated in the map. The following geologists have contributed materially
to the geological literature on this region: H. H. Beach, J. B. Bocock,
L. D. Burling, B. J. Chronic, A. H. Cox, G. M. Dawson, V. Dolmage,
J. A. Dresser, O. A. Erdman, C. F. J. Galloway, J. D. Galloway, A. J.
Goodman, J. C. Gwillim, C. O. Hage, M. S. Hedley, S. S. Holland, G. S.
Hume, E. J. W. Irish, F. Kidd, E. D. Kindle, L. R. Laudon, W. H. Mathews,
R. G. McConnell, F. H. McLearn, W. F. Robertson, A. R. C. Selwyn,
G. Shaw, HE. M. Spieker, J. Spivak, C. R. Stelck, J. S. Stewart, P. K.
Sutherland, J. A. Wallace, R. T. D. Wickenden, M. Y. Williams, T. B.
Williams, and W. I. Wright. Much information has been obtained from
the study of fossils collected by field geologists of companies exploring for
oil and sent to Ottawa for study. Acknowledgment is made to the chief
geologists of Gulf Research and Development Company, McColl-Frontenac
Oil Company, Phillips Petroleum Company, Shell Oil Company, and
Pocouyauectam Oil Company for the opportunity of examining these
collections.

The coal deposits of the Peace River district are the best known
mineral resource of this part of British Columbia. The coal occurs in the
upper part of the Bullhead group of Lower Cretaceous age. It is a high-
grade bituminous coal, and there are plentiful reserves. An estimate by
the Royal Commission on coal (MacKay, 1947)! places the reserves as
467,040,000 tons of probable mineable coal in this district, with 573,440,000
tons of possible additional mineable coal. Only four small coal mines are
operating at present. The King Gething, Peace River, and Packwood
Coal mines in Peace River Valley are more than 100 miles distant, by
truck road, from railhead at Dawson Creek. The haul from the Hasler
Creek coal mine south of Pine River is about 75 miles.

The broad belt of gently folded rocks that underlie the Foothills of
the Rocky Mountains extends for more than 350 miles northwesterly from
south of the Peace River Block north to Liard River. This belt contains
many anticlinal and terrace structures, some of which may prove worth

1 Names of authors and/or dates in parentheses are those of authors and dat icati
of reports listed in Bibliography, Chapter VIL. Be Neates ot pabliea won