though also largely due to removal by the powerful tidal currents of the Bay of Fundy, a process at some points still in rapid operation.

settlement.

time tract.

Varied in its geological as in its topographical features, this maritime Capacity for tract affords soils of very unequal character. Though in some parts capable of cultivation, it is in others hopelessly barren, and except where water-power gives facilities for the timber trade, contains few settlements. In some parts presenting only bare flat rocks, and in others extensive bogs and sandy barrens, while over large areas is spread a coarse covering of drift, the district, as a whole, is for agricultural purposes one of the least promising in the Province. While presenting some features of resemblance to those of the district just described, the region which occupies a similar position eastward of the St. Eastern mariJohn River is of simpler and at the same time more marked topographical character. Besides the ridge above alluded to as forming in King's County the direct continuation of the great central crystalline belt of Charlotte and Queen's Counties, which has its eastern termination at Butternut Ridge, three other ranges of hills form prominent features in the topography of this portion of the Province. Of these the most northerly traverses the central portion of King's County, and constituting the peninsula of Kingston, extends eastwardly with slight interruption beyond Sussex ; between this and the ridge first mentioned is included the Long Reach, a lake-like expansion Long Reach of the St. John River, together with its extension in the Belleisle Valley and Valley. that of the Millstream in Studholm. The second is parallel to the last, and, forming the high land in the parish of Portland, extends eastwardly beyond the Hammond River to Campbell Lake in the parish of Sussex. Between this and the Kingston ridge is the remarkable depression of the Kennebecasis Kennebecasis Bay and River, with a depth of from one hundred to two hundred feet Valley. below tide-level in its western portion, where it unites with the valley of the St. John, but much shallower. eastward, in which direction it forms a broad and open valley connected by transverse depressions with that of the Belleisle.

and Belleisle

The valley occupied by Loch Lomond and its associated lakes, and the Loch Lomond Valley. upper half of the Hammond River Valley, separate the Portland Ridge from another, the most elevated in this portion of the Province, which, skirting the Bay of Fundy, constitutes the hilly and broken region in the eastern part of St. John and Albert Counties. Near St. John, this ridge, terminating at Cape Spencer, rises in the eminence called Bloomsbury Mountain. Thence extending easterly it embraces the Quaco Hills between Loch Lomond and the coast. It comprises nearly the whole of the parish of St. Martin's in St. John County, and much of those of Upham and Sussex in King's. Still farther east it traverses Albert County in two or more parallel ridges, term- Caledonia and inating in Caledonia and Shepody Mountains. This range, like the crys- Shepody Mts.

talline belt in Charlotte and Queen's Counties, embraces several minor and

subordinate ridges, and constitutes the water-shed of numerous streams, of

Quaco Hills.

Rivers.

Soils.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA.

which the principal on the northern side are the Hammond River, flowing westwardly into the St. John, and the Pollett and Coverdale, tributaries of the Petitcodiac; and on the south, Black River, Quaco River, Salmon River, and others, for the most part broken streams descending rapidly towards the Bay of Fundy. The coast along this portion of the Province is frequently bold and high, and much less indented than that already described westward of St. John.

The soils of this, eastern metamorphic district present much variety. Those of the highlands above described, resting upon crystalline rocks, are for the most part meagre, though many portions support a vigorous forest growth ; some tracts, especially near the coast in St. John County, present features similar to those of the corresponding regions west of St. John, being covered by bare ledges of sandstone or extensive sphagnous swamps; but where less altered sediments prevail, as in the valleys of the Belleisle, Kennebecasis, Hammond River, and Petitcodiac River, soils of a much more productive character are to be found. The fertility of these soils is greatly increased by the large amount of calcareous matter derived from the limestone and gypsum beds so abundant in the region, and in the valleys alluded to are to be found some of the richest agricultural districts in the Province.

The peculiarities of the several districts above described, both topographical and agricultural, are partly dependent upon their geological structure, and in part upon the influences to which they have been subjected in later epochs of their history. The consideration of the latter may be deferred. until a systematic review of the entire surface-geology of the region is presented. We proceed to an enumeration of its more important geological features, prefixing thereto a brief synopsis of what has already been done in this region by earlier observers.

Labors of Dr. A. Gesner, 1838-1843.

Reports.

GEOLOGICAL FEATURES.

The first published observations on the geology of New Brunswick were those of Dr. Abraham Gesner, who, between the years 1838 and 1843, made a geological survey of the Province, and by whom five reports, embodying the results of this exploration, were submitted to the Provincial Legislature.

Of these reports, the first treats of the southern border of the Province from St. Stephen to St. John, including the islands of Passamaquoddy Bay. and of the country along the western side of the river St. John as far north as the border of the New Brunswick coal-field. The second describes the coast eastward from the St. John River to the Petitcodiac River, the interior valleys of King's and Westmoreland Counties, and the eastern and southern parts of the latter County. The third treats of a re-examination of the region described in the second report, and includes also that portion of Queen's County east and south of Grand Lake. The fourth report is devoted to a description of a part of the region treated of in the first; of the tract along the western

border from St. Stephen to Woodstock; of the country on both sides of the river St. John from Woodstock to Fredericton; and of the coal-field from Boiestown to the mouth of the Miramichi River, and on the principal rivers in Kent County. The fifth report, which is both topographical and geological, describes in a general way the northern part of the Province, namely, that part of it which lies north of a line drawn from Woodstock to Bathurst.

In these publications Dr. Gesner described the more obvious features in Results, the geology of New Brunswick, giving many details of the topographical and agricultural characters in its different portions, and succeeded in effecting a partial subdivision of its formations. Two great masses of intrusive granitic Granites, rocks were found to traverse the Province. Of these, the more northerly was traced from the Cheputnecticook Lakes on the western frontier, to the Keswick River in York County. A supposed continuation of it was found to form the high hills at the sources of the Nepisiquit and Tobique Rivers. The second great ridge of intrusive rock was also found to enter New Bruns wick from the state of Maine, at Calais and St. Stephen. It was described as extending thence eastward, nearly to the Petitcodiac River in Westmorland County. Both of these belts of crystalline rocks were referred to as primary, and as being flanked on both sides by schistose beds of Cambrian age. Cambrian These were described as consisting of slates of various colors, and grauwacke or fine grained sandstone, and were said to rest upon the slopes of the granitic ranges. North-westward of the more northerly of these two great granitic ridges a large area was found to be covered by clay-slates, more or less Calcareous slates. calcareous, and holding beds of limestone. This group of sediments, which was observed both on the river St. John and along the shores of Bay Chaleur, was, on the evidence of its organic remains, referred to the Upper Silurian period.

rocks.

In the geology of the southern metamorphic district Dr. Gesner encountered much greater complexities in the relations of the rock-formations. He found the great granitic ridge extending across the southern part of the Province, to be composed of two belts of igneous rocks, diverse in character; the more northerly consisted of true granite, containing mica, and extended Granite. from the Cheputnecticook River and Lakes to the St. John River, opposite the entrance of Belleisle Bay. The second belt, which lay along the southern side of the last, is described as covering an extensive tract in the western part of Charlotte County, and passing through that County to the St. John River in King's County; whence it extended along the western side of this river to the entrance of Belleisle Bay, and crossing at this point into the Peninsula of Kingston, passed onward through the eastern part of St. John County to Shepody Mountain, where it terminated. The rocks of this belt were spoken of as consisting largely of syenite and trap, and as having burst through, and in Syenite and places overflowed, the schistose strata to the south of them. Elsewhere the

trap.

Greywacke system.

Fossils.

"Primary

rocks of Black River.

line rocks.

granitic and syenitic belts are described collectively as a range of granitic and trappean mountains, running from the Chamcook hills, near St. Andrew's in Charlotte County, to Bull Moose Hill, in the parish of Springfield, in King's County.

66

South of these great masses of intrusive rocks, two groups of strata, both pertaining to the "grey wacke system," were said to cross the outlet of the St. John River. The lowermost of these groups comprised limestone beds (resting directly upon the syenite), and clay-slates. This group was referred to the Silurian system on the evidence of a terebratulite" figured at page 8 of the second report. The terebratulite was found in a zone of slates in the parish of Portland, which has, of late years, yielded a primordial fauna, and may have been a badly distorted Orthisina. This shell is said to have been also met with in the limestones. These calcareous beds were traced eastward to Hammond River, beyond which they were wanting. West of the St. John River, however, at several points in the counties of St. John and Charlotte, other limestones were found which were referred to this group. The upper group, consisting of grey wacke and grey wacke-slate, contained "trunks of trees," which were evidently those of the Dadoxylon sandstone, in the parish of Simonds.

Still another group of altered rocks, consisting of micaceous, chloritic and talcose schists, with sandstones, conglomerates and trap-beds, was recognized in the neighborhood of Mispec Harbor and Black River, which, from the evidences of apparent unconformability to the two above named, and the absence of organic remains, was pronounced, in relation to them, to be "primary." No division of the schistose strata westward of St. John was attempted by Dr. Gesner, they being designated, collectively, as the greywacke system or transition series.

It will be observed that the more southerly belts of intrusive igneous rocks, thus recognized by Dr. Gesner as stretching across the Province, correspond approximately to the great ridges alluded to in our remarks on its topoNon-crystal- graphical features. In the valleys and plains intervening between these ridges, and partly covering their slopes, non-crystalline rocks were found, consisting, for the most part, of sandstones and conglomerates, with some beds of shale. In the largest of these depressed tracts, namely, that contained between the converging ridges of the two more northerly belts, (the one extending from the Cheputnecticook Lakes towards Bathurst, and the other from St. John to Springfield in King's County), these rocks were found to be usually of a grey color, and not unfrequently to contain remains of plants Carboniferous, and seams of coal. They were, on this account, correctly referred to the Carboniferous period, and were shown to occupy most of the great central plain of the Province—a triangular area having its apex near the Oromocto Lake, and its base along the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This coal-field was found to include much of the Counties of York, Sunbury, Queen's, Northumberland,

Kent and Westmorland, connecting in the latter with the coal-fields of Nova Scotia. The largest of the coal seams observed in this area was that Coal seams. of Grand Lake in Queen's County, measuring twenty-two inches in thickness.

stones.

Around the border of the coal-field and near its centre, sandstones of a Red sandbright red color were found to occur, and occasionally beds of limestone. These limestones, which are fossiliferous, were correctly referred to the base of the Carboniferous system. The red sandstones, however, except those crossing the St. John River at Hampstead, were supposed to be of more recent origin, and with similar beds, which were found to occupy much of the valleys of the Belleisle, Kennebecasis and Petitcodiac Rivers, (where they were also associated with limestones, together with gypsum beds and saline springs,) were termed Supposed age. the New Red Sandstone formation, while the red sediments of Hampstead were classed as Old Red Sandstone. A study by Sir Charles Lyell, of the similar group in Nova Scotia, subsequently led to a determination of the true position of these sandstones and associated calcareous and gypsiferous beds, they being near the base of the Carboniferous system. Deposits of New Red Sandstone were also recognized by Dr. Gesner along the coast of the Bay of Fundy, and on the Tobique River, in the northern part of the Province. At page 4, of his fourth report, Dr. Gesner expresses his intention of presenting with that report a Geological Map of New Brunswick, embracing the Geological results obtained up to the end of the year 1841. No such illustration of Dr. Map of Dr. Gesner, 1841. Gesner's work is now known, but there is a large manuscript map, enlarged from one compiled under the direction of the Hon. John Simcoe Saunders, formerly Surveyor-General of New Brunswick, now in the possession of the directors of the Mechanics' Institute, of St. John. This map has been colored in accordance with the geological views of Dr. Gesner, but only represents the ground covered by his first three reports. It is highly probable that this map was prepared by him, and may have been the one referred to in his fourth report. In some respects it is more accurate than the one subsequently put forth by Dr. James Robb, of King's College, Fredericton; as, for instance, in the outlines of the granitic belt extending from St. Stephen to Hampstead, on the St. John River; and in the fact that the sandstones, slates, etc., along the south side of the syenitic and trappean belt, near the Bay of Fundy, which Dr. Robb subsequently colored as Upper Silurian, were called by Gesner the grey wacke system, in " part Silurian."

The map published by Dr. Robb, which was the first published geo- Map of Dr. Robb, 1850. logical map of the Province, having been issued in 1850, with the report of Prof. J. F. W. Johnston on the agricultural capabilities of New Brunswick, was based upon the data obtained by Dr. Gesner, corrected and supplemented by Dr. Robb's own observations during the six years succeeding the completion of Dr. Gesner's survey. In it considerable progress was made in distinguishing both the limits and character of the several groups. The outlines assigned to these formations, which were described as to a