Deposits of Excellent Salt.
Mr. McConnell also explored part of Salt river in 1887. He reported:—“Several salt springs drain into Salt river, near Fort Smith, about twenty-five miles above its mouth. The springs are enclosed by small evaporating basins, the largest of which is about fifteen feet in diameter, and is crusted with a remarkably pure deposit of sodic chloride. The salt obtained here is of excellent quality, and has been used in Mackenzie river district for many years. Salt is also reported to occur on the headwaters of a small stream which enters the Mackenzie about fifteen miles above Fort Norman.”
Mr. McConnell in 1887 examined the Nahanni Butte at the junction of Nahanni river with the Liard, below Fort Liard, and he states that copper stains were noted in a number of places, but no specimens indicating deposits of economic value were obtained.
In his 1893 report regarding his investigation of the Athabaska tar-sand-petroleum deposits, Mr. McConnell mentioned, as indicating the presence of petroleum deposits over an immense area, that north of Athabaska district “tar occurs at intervals in the Devonian limestone exposed along the valleys of Slave river and the Mackenzie, all the way to Arctic ocean.”
Some Notes by Rev. Father Petitot.
Professor Robert Bell submitted to the Senate committee of 1888 a letter received from Rev. Father Petitot, O.M.I., of Fort Good Hope, dated August 16, 1873, in reply to a letter from Professor Bell, written May 30, the previous year.
The reverend gentleman explained in his letter that he had travelled extensively through this vast region, and proceeded to give a most interesting geological account of the country, although he undoubtedly disclaimed any merit as a geologist.
Points of practical interest to which attention was drawn in this communication were the following:—
“To the south and to the east of the banks of Great Slave lake are flats, composed of alluvium and gravel. On the islands off shore asphalt is found, the hardened debris of which is strewn on the beach.
“Six miles above Fort Norman, and for an extent of from eight to ten miles, the Mackenzie is bounded on its right bank by a precipice which reaches at first about one hundred and fifty feet in height, and gradually diminishes to a height of thirty feet. It is a vast Tertiary deposit composed of alternate stratifications of friable schist, lignite, pipe-clay and vegetable mould. The schists are in a state of combustion winter and summer, but the subterranean fire which shows itself on the surface through smoke holes, stinking of bitumen, is intermittent, and breaks out sometimes at one point, sometimes at another. It is not always visible at the surface, but at others is very active. The soil is very hot, damp and movable in the neighbourhood of these smoke holes.