103

Lignite coal is seen at a number of places in the banks of the Athabaska
for 62 miles above Fort Assiniboine and several miles below. About 28 miles
above the mouth of McLeod river the following section is found.

Feet Inches
Sandstone and shales.. ..
SHObsA AY. GU VEIT ERAS Ae ae, ile tune a eal gee AUR Ie ohare) acy aocuear el siranPenet any 3 0
Soft sandstone-and Shale ss iif Ae. Sse ea. at ihe 4. 0
Good lignite.. BY ooo: See Yipee ee ae L 8

Two beds occur about 8 miles farther down.! “They are shown near the
water’s edge in a slide detached from the main bank. The upper seam here has
a thickness of ten feet, without including in this measurement about six thin,
shaly partings, which make up in all about ten inches of shale. Below this seam
is about twenty feet of soft, earthy sandstone and shale, followed by a second
seam of clean, hard, lignite coal three feet in thickness.” G. C. Hoffmann? gives

the following analyses.
Ten-foot Three-foot

seam seam
Hygroscopic water Putas e CEL d SY iii st eS Charnes 11°47 10°58
Volatile combustible matter. ee 3'2°.0:9 32°79
PDI CALEDON st hat asd eke te ee RE ER A 47°79 50°19
Ashivs, Set lok nes ok eae a TS fo ee Se ee 8°65 6°44

Two thin seams of lignite occur at what is probably the same geological]
horizon farther down the river.

Fragments of coal were observed on the upper course of Wapiti river and
on its tributary, Mountain creek, and thin seams occur in the banks of the latter.
Drift lignite is also abundant in Little Smoky river.

Coal oceurs on McLeod river and near Wolf creek in tp. 52, range 15, W. 5th
mer.2 Thin seams have been observed on Fort Nelson river and Pine river,*
and some outcrops occur on Doig river where it crosses the twenty-third base-
line.> Ligtlite has also been observed in township 78 along the fifth merdian®
and there are seams at several horizons in the plateau to the south of Lesser
Slave ldke.7 At an elevation of 3,300 feet there are two seams 20 inches and 21
inches thick separated by 8 feet of shale, and 100 feet lower there are other seams
the thickest of which is 3 feet. These are exposed along Driftpile river north
of the eighteenth base-line and at a number of points along the northwest slope of
Inverness valley. Fragments of lignite are found on the lower slopes of Martin
mountain and at many other points in the Peace River district. Small seams
of impure lignite occur on Liard river, and Coal river, one of its tributaries,
brings down fragments of similar material.§ ;

In describing the coal deposits of the Peel River basin Camsell states that
“Seams of lignite occupy extensive areas in the rocks of the Tertiary basin
at the Bonnet Plume river. The largest seam noted was thirty feet in thick-
ness, another was eight feet, and several varied from two inches to ten. The

lignite is not of very good quality, and has been burnt in many places by the

1Pawson,..G M., Geol. Surv., Can., Rept. of Prog., 1879-80, p. 126 B.

2Geol. Surv., Can., Rept. of Prog., 1879-80, p. 10 H.

3 Dowling, D. B., Geol. Surv., Can., Sum. Rept., 1909, p. 149.

4 Ogilvie, Wm., Top. Surv. Branch, Dept. of the Interior, Ann. Rept., 1892, p. 27.
5Akins, J. R., Top. Surv. Branch, Dept. of the Interior, Ann. Rept. 1911-12, p. 58.
6 Ponton, A. W., Top. Surv. Branch, Dept. of the Interior, 1908-09, p. 170.

7 Allan, J. A., Geol. Sury., Can., Sum. Rept., 1918, p..11 CG

8 McConnell, R. G., Geol. Surv., Can., Ann. Rept., vol. IV, p. 41 D.

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