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104.

fires which have been in existence for many years. Lignite also occurs a few
miles above the mouth of Cariboo river, and also in the canyon of the Rat river
above the mouth of Barrier river. Many sections of the Peel plateau below
Snake river show beds of peat resting on the clay or gandstone, sometimes as
much as twelve feet in thickness.

The Tertiary beds on the Mackenzie at the mouth of Great Bear river
hold several seams of lignite ranging in thickness from 2 to 4 feet,? and a seam
exceeding 9 feet in thickness was reported by Sir John Richardson as being
visible a short distance above Great Bear river, at low water, during the
autumn.® Drift lignite is also found on the lower part of Gravel river.*

Franklin mentions that Garry island at the mouth of the Mackenzie e348
terminated to the northwest by a steep cliff, through which protrude, in a
highly-inclined position, several layers of wood-coal, similar to that found in the
Mackenzie.” :

R. MacFarlane, in speaking of the Lockhart river below its Junction with
the Iroquois, says: “The formation of the banks of the Lockhart for some
distance after we fell upon it, consisted of 2 bituminous coal, resting on a bed
of limestone with an upper layer of vegetable mould covering a bed of from
two to ten feet of clay, underneath which the carboniferous stratum appeared.
Lower down, the formation was perceived to be stratified shale.’’6

COBALT

No important deposits of cobalt are known to occur in the basin, but the
rocks on the east shore of McTavish bay, Great Bear lake, are stained in places
with cobalt-bloom,* and at one locality on the north shore of the bay west of the
narrows between Christie and McLeod Vays, Great Slave lake, cobalt-bloom
was observed,§ associated with green copper stains arising from the weathering
of thin plates of chalcopyrite in joints in greenstone,

COPPER

No important copper deposits are known to occur in the Mackenzie River
basin. Native copper has been reported, however, at the northeast end of
MeTavish bay.®

GOLD

Gold has not been discovered in any important quantity in the Mackenzie
basin east of the Rocky mountains, and the extent of country known to be
favourable for prospecting for this metal is quite limited.

1 Camsell, C., Geol. Surv., Can., Ann. Rept., vol. XVI, ip. 47 CC.

2 McConnell, R. G., Geol. Surv., Can., Ann. Rept., vol. IV, p 81 D:

3 “Arctic searching expedition—a journal of a boat-voyage through Rupert’s Land
and the Arctic sea in search of the discovery ships under command of Sir John Franklin,”
1851, p. 189. :

4 Keele, J., “Reconnaissance across the Mackenzie mountains on the Pelly, Ross, and
Gravel rivers, Yukon and Northwest Territories,” Geol. Surv., Can., 1910, p. 50,

° Franklin, John, “Narrative of a second expedition to the shores of the Polar sea in
the years 1825, 1826, and 1827,” p. 37. ‘ai

6Can. Rec. of Sc., vol. 4, 1890, p. 32.

7 Bell, J. M.. Geol. Surv., Can., Ann. Rept., vol. XII, p. 27 Cc.

8 Bell, Robt., Geol Sury., Can., Ann. Rept., vol. ht py, TOS A.

9 Bell, J. M., Geol. Surv., Can., Ann. Rept., vol. XII, DeAC ee,

at