SUMMARY REPORT OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OFFICE, MONTREAL, 2nd May, 1870. SIR,-In compliance with the terms of the Act establishing the Geological Survey of the Dominion of Canada, which makes it incumbent on the officer in charge to furnish annually, in May, a report of the progress of the work under his direction, I now have the honor to lay before you, for the information of His Excellency the Governor General, the following summary of the operations of the Survey since the date of the last report of my predecessor, Sir William E. Logan, F.R.S. Having arrived in the country in October of last year, and having been in charge of the Survey since the 1st December, only five months, I have, from personal observation, no knowledge of the districts previously reported on, nor of those explored during the past season. In the last Summary Report of progress, by my predecessor, Sir William E. Logan, dated 1st May, 1869, it was stated that reports had been received from the various assistants, whose works of exploration were then mentioned, but that it would be necessary to defer their presentation to a future occasion. Most of these reports are now in the press; they have been studied and revised; and, although the dates at which they were originally written have not been altered, additional facts, the results of further investigation, have been embodied in them, and when considered requisite, illustrative maps and sections have been prepared to accompany them. Reports by Sir William E. Logan, and Mr. Edward Hartley, on the Pictou Coalfield, giving the results of one season's investigation by Sir William, and of two by Mr. Hartley, to December 1869, are also in the press; as well as one by Mr. James Richardson, of his exploration last season, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, from the River Saguenay to Seven Islands Bay, These, and other reports, will be published at an early date in a volume, uniform with those issued by the Geological Survey in 1863 and 1866. The contents of this volume will be as follows, viz : 1. Report 1867-1868, by Sir W. E. Logan, F.R.S., on a part of the Pictou Coal-field, Nova Scotia. 2. Report by Mr. Edward Hartley, F.G.S., on a part of the Pictou Coal-field, Nova Scotia. 3. Report by Mr. Robert Bell, F.G.S., on the Geology of some of the islands of the Manitoulin group. 4. Report by Mr. James Richardson, on the Lower Silurian rocks on the south side of the St. Lawrence, between the Chaudière and Rivière du Loup, with a map. 5. Report by Mr. H. G. Vennor, on the Geology of Hastings county, Ontario, with a map. 6. Report by Mr. Charles Robb, on the Geology of a portion of the counties of York, Carleton, and Victoria, in New Brunswick, with a map. 7. Reports by Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, F.R.S., 1. On the Goderich Salt Region; 2. On Iron and Iron ores. 8. Report by Mr. James Richardson, on a Geological examination on the north shore of the lower St. Lawrence, from the Saguenay to Seven Islands Bay. 9. Report by Mr. Robert Bell, F.G.S., on the Geology of the Thunder Bay and Lake Nipigon regions, with a map. 10. Report by Mr. Edward Hartley, F. G. S., on Coals and Iron Ores of Pictou county, Nova Scotia. APPENDIX. Report by Mr. John Bell, M.D., M.A., on the Plants of the Manitoulin Islands. The appendix to Mr. Hartley's report contains much interesting and valuable information respecting the characters and economic qualities, as steam and gas-producers, of the coals from the Pictou and Springhill, Cumberland county, Coal-fields. The facts recorded have been deduced, from a series of carefully made analyses, and from practical trials with railway and marine engines, carried out, either by Mr. Hartley himself, or under his immediate direction and superintendence. The details of the manner in which these trials were conducted, and other useful observations connected with the economics of coal, will be found in this report; it contains also descriptions and analyses of Pictou County iron ores. A considerable portion of Mr. Hartley's time and attention was devoted last year to these experiments, and the results obtained, are considered so satisfactory, and of so great commercial importance, as to justify the investigations being continued, and extended to other districts. In this connection, and to show the value of such enquiries, Professor J. S. Newberry, a better authority than whom could not be quoted, says, in his address recently delivered to the Legislature of Ohio, 7th February, 1870, (pages 40-41,) when speaking of the coking coals of that state-"To investigate the peculiarities of the different seams of coal included in this class, and prescribe the best method to be pursued in their use, is a great and important duty to be performed by this or some other Geological Board, and one that will add millions annually to the revenues of our people. In order to show how important the work is, I will only refer to the manufacture of iron in our south-western counties, until recently, the most important centre of iron industry in the state. Here there is an abundance of excellent ore, and forty furnaces that have been for years using charcoal for its reduction. But the supply of fuel afforded by the forest growth of a country is comparatively small, and it has there been, already, to a large extent, exhausted. Now, this region abounds in coal, though mostly of the coking variety; and it is evident that its prosperity and progress will hinge upon the intelligent adaptation of the coal found there, to the purposes heretofore served by charcoal. If the mineral fuel of this portion of the State can be successfully employed in the reduction of its ores, the iron manufacture may be expanded to an indefinite extent; without this, it must not only cease to advance, but diminish. Already an exhaustive investigation into the properties and adaptations of different Ohio coals has been begun by the Geological Corps. This should be continued until every owner of coal lands, in every county in the coal-area, shall know with accuracy how much, and what kind of coal he possesses, for what it is fit, how much it is worth, how it can be worked, and where it is to be marketed. It is not too much to expect that when this investigation shall have been completed, the industries of the State will be sensibly' affected, and very much expanded by it." These remarks apply in full force to the Dominion of Canada, within which there is abundance of iron ore, and also large quantities of coal, similar to that of Ohio, remaining undeveloped, chiefly for want of that accurate knowledge of its properties, and of the right means to be employed for its adaptation to the several purposes for which either wood, charcoal, or anthracite, have hitherto been used, at a cost often greatly exceeding that of the coals of the country, if intelligently applied. By special request, Mr. Hartley is preparing a full report of his experiments, for the information of Lewis Carvell, Esq., General Superintendent of Railways in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, through whose kindness in placing the requisite means at his disposal, he was enabled to carry out his investigations. He is also greatly indebted, to the kindness and wise liberality of the following Companies, and their officers: Mr. J. Hoyt, of the Acadia Coal Company, Mr. J. Dunn, of the Intercolonial Coal Company; the Prince Edward Island Steam Navigation Company; and Mr. J. Hudson, of the General Mining Association. Mr. Hartley's experiments are, it is believed, already sufficient to indicate that a very large annual saving can be effected in the cost of fuel on railways and steamers, and in manufacturing works, in some cases by the substitution of coal for wood or charcoal, and in all by a more accurate knowledge of the right system of firing, the requisite draft, and the proper construction of furnaces and fire-places. Mr. H. G. Vennor has been occupied in completing and extending his investigations on the structure, distribution, and economic minerals of the several rock masses in the counties of Hastings, Peterboro, Addington, and Frontenac, in the Province of Ontario. Last summer his observations were chiefly confined to portions of the counties of Addington and Frontenac, and have embraced an area of about eleven hundred and fifty square miles, in which he has determined and mapped the distribution of the various deposits. They do not differ essentially, in their mineralogical character, and associations from those of the same formations, previously mapped by Mr. Vennor, in the counties of Hastings and Peterboro, some of which have already been described in the geological Reports of former years. The rocks to which Mr. Vennor's attention was devoted last summer, are divided, in descending order, into the following groups :-- Cor 3. Dolomites, mica-slates, and calc-schists. B or 2. Diorites, chlorite-schists and magnetic iron ores. A or 1. Syenite, gneiss and crystalline limestone. (Laurentian.) The precise relations of groups 2 and 3, to the Laurentian rocks, group 1, is a question which hitherto had not been satisfactorily determined. Last year this was mentioned by Sir William E. Logan, and he then stated they were all classed, provisionally, with the Lower Laurentian. Mr. Vennor has, however, now succeeded in establishing the fact that the dolomites, calc-schists and mica-slates, division 3, lie unconformably on the syenite, gneiss and crystalline limestone of division 1; while the position to be assigned to the diorites, chlorite schists and iron ores of division 2, still remains doubtful, and will require further investigation. The possibility has been suggested that the latter may represent some |