He did not apparently see the thick seam of coal which I found, as above stated, below the Brazeau River, about eighty-six miles from Rocky Mountain House; and another seam of five feet six inches thick, which I found at a point. some fifteen miles higher up the river, as well as the numerous indications of seams which occur between the out-crop of the eighteen feet seam and Edmonton, probably also escaped his notice, as he travelled partly during the night, and in the winter, on the ice, when many of the exposures along the banks must have been concealed by snow. The observations which I was able to make descending the river do not enable me to say whether the seams retain their thicknesses or are connected for long distances, or whether the very numerous exposures and indications seen in the cliff sections represent more or less lenticular shaped and isolated patches, repeated at different horizons and over large areas. Dr. Hector appears to incline to the latter idea, and, in a note referring to the seams at Rocky Mountain House, he states: The coal beds are not continuous for long distances.' Whether this is actually the case or not, there can be no question that in the region west of Edmonton, bounded on the north by the Athabasca River and on the south by the Red Deer River, there exists a vast cold field covering an area of not less than 25,000 square miles; and beneath a large portion of this area we may expect to find workable seams of coal at depths seldom exceeding 300 feet, and often, as in the case of the thick seams above described, very favorably situated for working by levels from the surface. "Coal seams have been seen on the Pembina River, a tributary of the Athabasca, 20 feet thick. It is also found on the McLeod, another tributary of the same river, and at Coal Creek, near the entrance to the Jasper Valley In the elevated country, south of Little Slave Lake, many fine seams have been seen, and its occurrence on Peace River is well known. Northward, the coal fields extend to the Arctic coast, and although many parts are so covered by drift that the existence of coal has not been verified from the extreme north to the southern boundary, yet enough is known to justify the belief that it does exist." No person need fear the future as regards fuel, for if all the wood was gone, the stores of peat in the north and west would supply the demand, of 50,000,000 of people. CHAPTER XIX. Timber Supply. Minnesota Considered-Lake of the Woods-Line of the C. P. R.-Varieties of Timber- THE timber supply for the North-West engages at present the attention of many thoughtful men. It is, therefore, necessary to collect in a small space all the information possible on the subject. At present, Northern Minnesota sends a supply to the Red River Valley, but this in a few years will be exhausted, and our own country must be depended on for the enormou quantity that will be required. On the Lake of the Woo Rainy River and its tributaries, and along Winni_eg River, there are large areas of forest where much fine timber is still to be had, but in no sense can these areas be called pineries. Tamarac, White Spruce, Banksian or Scrub Pine, Norway Pine, White Pine, and White Cedar are met with in greater or lesser quantities. For such purposes as housebuilding, fence posts, railroad ties, or bridge building, there is an ample supply along the line of the C. P. R. It is true much of it is small, but it is sound and good, and scarcity enhances the value. When lumber of any kind brings $20 per thousand, small size and presence of knots will never condemn the material. The various species of Pine are on the sandy ridges on the sandy ridges dividing the swamps, while the Tamarac and Black Spruce are found in the swamps. At Rat Portage and Eagle River are sawmills which manufacture large quantities of material used on the C. P. R., and much that is distributed over the country, as far west as Portage la Prairie. Rat Portage has the finest water power in the world and here in the future immense quantities of flour will be ground for the eastern markets. Beren's River, about half-way up the east shore of Lake Winnipeg, drains a large district of country, and along its banks there are known to exist considerable areas of Pine lands, but whether Banksian or Red Pine is the prevailing species, our limited knowledge prevents us from ascertaining. No matter what interested or other persons may state, Red and White Pine cease on the east side of Lake Winnipeg, and the only species found west of that is the Banksian Pine (Pinus Banksiana). White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis) is found in small quantity on the shores of Cedar Lake, north of the head of Winnipegoosis, but no further west. The following list of the trees of the plains and the northern forests may be relied on as absolutely correct. White Spruce (Abies alba) may be considered the most important tree throughout the North-West. Neither its habit nor habitat are in accord with eastern ideas. In its northern home it is a stately treer ising, with little diminution in size, to the height of 100 feet, and often having a diameter of nearly four feet. It is no uncommon occurrence to see fifty trees to an acre, averaging thirty inches in diameter. Its habitat, instead of being on sand or in wet swamps, is always on the mossy sloping-bank or side-hill or on the alluvial flats along a river. Black Spruce (Abies nigra) is an important tree, north of lat. 54°. It is a curious fact that the writer never saw |