There is no doubt that the combined areas of Carboniferous and Tertiary coals are very extensive, and that they would form a valuable addition to the mineral wealth of the Dominion if they were located in a more accessible region. Situated as they are in the northern Arctic islands, where navigation is at all times uncertain and unusually perilous, it is very doubtful if they will ever prove of economic value.
Lignite.—Attention has been drawn to the occurrence of lignite of an excellent quality in the sand and clay deposits of Tertiary age along the northern and eastern shores of Baffin island and on the east side of Bylot island.
Little is known of these deposits, as the only information concerning them is derived from small float specimens picked from the beds of the streams that flow over these sands and clays. These lignites probably correspond to the bituminous coal found in the folded Tertiary rocks of the far north, and may prove to be quite extensive and of economic value, as the localities at which they have been found, although within the Arctic circle, are by no means so dangerous of access as the coal beds of the north.
Coal.—The presence of extensive deposits of coal on the island north of Lancaster sound has already been mentioned in the discussion of the Carboniferous and Tertiary formations of the northern islands. The Carboniferous rocks cover all the western islands of the Parry group, and extend northwesterly into the northwest part of Ellesmere. Parry first discovered coal in the cliffs at Winter harbour on Melville island, and used it for fuel on his ships. The Franklin search parties later found outcrops of coal in other places along the southern and eastern shores of that island and in the cliffs of Bathurst island.
These outcrops of coal indicate that the seams seen in the southern cliffs will be found extending inland over the greater portion of the islands, where they are covered by several hundred feet of newer rocks. No coal has been found in the Carboniferous rocks of Ellesmere island.
The mineral occurs in thin beds along with sandstones and shales, and is a good quality of bituminous coal.
In the folded Tertiary rocks found in the vicinity of Lady Franklin sound on the west side of Kennedy channel several outcrops of excellent bituminous coal have been discovered. The beds in the neighbourhood of Fort Conger have been mined along the outcrop and used for fuel by the Nares expedition and by Greely and Peary.
Scottish Whaler ‘Eclipse.’