composition. They are for the most part hidden under thick deposits of drift clay, and have hitherto produced no important discoveries of the metals; but it is worthy of remark that it is in limestone rocks of corresponding age and condition that the extensive deposits of lead in Wisconsin and Iowa occur. The limestones of this region, besides contributing materially to its agricultural value, furnish excellent building and paving materials; and in many places beds of hydraulic limestone are found, and a superior description of lithographic stone may be obtained in unlimited quantity.

The rocks of the western peninsula are of Upper Silurian and Devonian age; and furnish, by their decomposition, the materials for the rich and fertile soils by which this part of the province is distinguished, and rendered so invaluable for agricultural purposes. The most important mineral products of the rocks of this region are gypsum, hydraulic lime and petroleum.

The superficial deposits, all over the country, furnish abundant materials for the manufacture of bricks, tiles and every description of coarse pottery. Shellmarls occur in many places, and constitute a valuable manure. Bog iron ore is also found in great quantities, and at several points has been made available in the manufacture of iron of an excellent quality. Beds of ochre exist in many localities, and considerable areas in the eastern part of the province are covered by marshes yielding abundance of peat, which must in time become most valuable for fuel.

CATALOGUE OF USEFUL MINERALS FOUND IN CANADA.

It will be impossible, within the limits prescribed to us, to give more than a general and cursory account of the useful minerals of Canada; and with respect to many of them we must confine ourselves to a bare enumeration. As the basis of our remarks, we shall adopt the classification given by Sir William Logan; reproducing, in an abridged form, the

index to the elaborate and valuable "Descriptive Catalogues of the Economic Minerals of Canada," prepared by him for the Great Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862; and omitting such as are either common to most other countries, or of limited application in the arts, together with such as appear to be of rare occurrence in Canada. We shall then enter upon a more particular account of such as are of special interest or importance, giving such details as may serve to elucidate their nature, mode of occurrence and value, and the extent to which they have been developed.

METALS AND THEIR ORES.

Iron. Magnetic, specular, bog and titaniferous.
Zinc and Lead. Sulphurets, (blende and galena.)

Copper. Native, pyritous, variegated and vitreous sulphurets.
Nickel and Cobalt. Sulphurets.

Silver. Native, and associated with galena and copper ore. Gold. Native; in superficial deposits and in veins.

MINERALS APPLICABLE TO CHEMICAL MANUFACTURES.

Chromium. In chromic iron ore, for forming chromate of potash, &c.

Manganese. In iron ore, and as earthy peroxide, for bleaching and decolorizing agents.

Iron Pyrites. For manufacture of copperas and sulphur.

MINERAL PAINTS.

Iron Ochres. All varieties of color; very abundant. Sulphate of Baryta. For manufacture of permanent white,

&c.

Steatite. Soapstone, used both as a paint and a refractory

stone.

MATERIALS APPLICABLE TO THE ARTS.

Lithographic Stone, Mica, Moulding Sand, Fuller's Earth.

MATERIALS APPLICABLE TO JEWELRY.

Agates, Jasper, Labradorite, Sunstone, Hyacinth, Oriental Rubies, Sapphires, Amethysts, Ribboned Chert, (for cameos,) Jet.

MATERIALS FOR GLASS MAKING.

White Quartzose Sandstone, Pitchstone, Basalt, &c.

REFRACTORY MATERIALS,

Soapstone, Pipestone, Asbestos, Sandstone, Plumbago, Fire-clay.

MINERAL MANURES.

Phosphate of Lime, Gypsum, Shellmarl.

GRINDING AND POLISHING MATERIAL.

Millstones, Grindstones, Whetstones.

MATERIALS FOR COMMON AND DECORATIVE CONSTRUCTION.

Granite, Sandstone, Limestone, Hydraulic Limestone, Roofing Slates, Flagstones, Marbles, (in great variety of colors,) Serpentines, Clays for brick and tile making and coarse pottery.

COMBUSTIBLE MATERIALS.

Peat, Petroleum, and Asphalt.

In the notices which we shall proceed to give of the progress of development of the various minerals under their respective heads, it is to be understood that the date to which this account is brought up is the early part of the year 1862.

IRON ORES.

The iron ores of Canada, with the exception of the bog ores, which are distributed over many parts of the province, are chiefly found associated, as we before remarked, with the Laurentian rocks, in which they occur in prodigious quantities, and generally in beds lying conformably with the

stratification. Most of these beds are of very great extent and thickness, and of excellent quality, yielding sixty to seventy per cent. of pure iron; and although the want of mineral fuel operates as a very serious obstacle to the development of this branch of industry, they have been partially worked in a few places.

At the Hull mine, situated about five miles above Ottawa City, the bed is about 90 feet in thickness, containing between 60 and 70 per cent. of metallic iron, and is of vast though unknown extent. At the lowest estimate this deposit is calculated to contain not less than 250,000,000 tons of iron.

The Crosby mine, situated on the Rideau canal, is on a bed 200 feet thick, and its yield over the same extent of ground would amount to double that above-mentioned; a quantity which, at the present rate of production, would afford employment for the whole mining force of Great Britain and the United States for a century.

In the township of Marmora, where iron works have been established and smelting done to a limited extent, the beds are in the aggregate about 150 feet in thickness, and by the same method of computation may be estimated to contain 100,000,000 tons; and at two other known locations which have been partially opened up, the probable contents may amount to 150,000,000 tons; thus making, for the five localities specified, an aggregate of 1,000,000,000 tons. Vast quantities of iron ore have recently been discovered in the neighborhood of Lake Nipissing, and it is certain that as the whole region overlaid by the Laurentian rocks becomes settled, many additional localities of the material will be discovered. It is thus evident that the supply of iron ore in Canada may be regarded as practically inexhaustible.

As regards the quality of the ore, and natural facilities for working and transportation, these are unsurpassed by

any country in the world. The ore consists chiefly, in the localities referred to, of the magnetic oxide of iron, which is the same species, and occurring in the same geological formation, with those of Sweden and Norway, from which the celebrated Swedish Iron is made. There is therefore every reason to believe that if treated in a similar way, it will produce an equally good material for the manufacture of steel and the finer descriptions of iron work. The ore-beds occurring immediately at the surface can be wrought with comparatively little labor, and many of the most promising are situated near the banks of navigable rivers and canals.

The extensive scale on which iron smelting works must necessarily be conducted, and the large capital involved, together with the want of mineral fuel and expense of labor, have hitherto operated as obstructions to the development of this branch of industry in Canada; while the low price of iron imported from the mother country renders it doubtful whether, in present circumstances, it would repay the cost of manufacturing. It is, however, in the highest degree satisfactory to know that this country possesses within itself such vast stores of a material indispensable to the comfort and progress of mankind, and which can be made available when circumstances render its application expedient or necessary.

It is a remarkable and somewhat anomalous fact, however, that in the British provinces in North America, iron smelting and some other branches of industry, received a larger share of attention half a century ago than they do at the present day. This is probably to be accounted for from the application of the modern system of division of labor, which tends to restrict the industry of countries, as well as individuals, to those branches only which are supposed to form their staple productions, or to which nature and custom are conceived to have best adapted them.

Several years ago iron works were established, and smelt