“A section of the hill shows a light, coarse gneiss near the bottom, with a dark mica-schist, followed by a bed of light, rusty coloured gneiss having a thickness of about five feet. This in some places seems to have been very rich in pyrites and is weathered out to a reddish ochre. The outcrop is just below the crest of the ridge, and from it the ochre falling down, stains the whole face of the hill. Above, on the summit, the rock is mostly a dark-red gneiss.”
Archbishop Clut, examined before the Senate committee of 1888, stated that he had seen sulphur springs on Clearwater river. Asked if he had ever heard of the existence of valuable minerals in any part of the country northeast of Lake Athabaska, Bishop Clut explained that he had seen a man named McCarthy, at Fond du Lac, Lake Athabaska, who told him that he had discovered gold, but as he was not an educated man, the bishop did not know whether he was mistaken or not. The man said he would not show it to anybody, but that he was almost sure that he had found a gold mine. Nobody had brought to him specimens of gold, silver or anything of that kind from that region.
Bituminous Springs and Pit Coal.
Chief Factor A. McDonald chronicles in his journal having passed bituminous springs on Cree river, south of Lake Athabaska, just above the junction of the Pierre au Calumet or Pipestone river (McLeod’s “Peace River”). He also reports having passed, the same day, “Large strata of pit coal all along either side of the river.”
Mr. Alfred Von Hamerstein informed the Senate committee of 1907 that “on Clearwater river there are first class medicinal springs. The natives have been using the water right along, and it acts very well on the bowels. It is like the well known Hunyadi mineral water. It is a very nice, picturesque country, and the natives go up there and doctor themselves.”
In the course of his examination before the Senate committee of 1907, Mayor Cook, of Prince Albert, explained that nobody in the region north of the Saskatchewan bothers about the coal. Coal had been discovered at Lac La Ronge—there was no doubt about that. Good samples had been brought in, but nobody bothered with it yet because wood was so plentiful.
W. F. Bredin, M.L.A., stated before the Senate committee of 1907, that on his way from McMurray to Prince Albert, he found that the tar sands appeared on Buffalo lake, which is on the Churchill system of water, and that, in his opinion, showed that the tar sands are both on the Mackenzie water system and on the Churchill system, on both sides of the divide there.
Mr. Crean in his 1908 report says:—“At the narrows between Little Buffalo lake and Buffalo lake, there is a tar sand outcrop. The Indians use it to pitch their canoes.”
Mr. Crean also says:—“Lac la Ronge district is claimed to have great possibilities as a mineral district. The Laurentian range of rock crops out here and is easily traced to the northwest. Whether this outcrop really contains mineral of economic value is still unsettled. Numerous claims have been staked at Nickel island in Lac la Ronge and on the mainland close by, also on Churchill river above Stanley. I had not time to prospect the country, but from casual observation I should think that it would repay a closer investigation. The vein on Nickel island is very distinct and about eighteen inches wide on the outcrop. Several small companies have been formed and development work in a limited way is progressing.”
So far there has been very little systematic prospecting for economic minerals in the portion of the province of Saskatchewan north of the river of that name, but the people of Prince Albert and Battleford and the pioneers settled in the wilderness north of those towns, have for years believed that coal, iron and other minerals will be found in the vicinity; trappers, traders and Indians often return from the wilderness with stories of mineral discoveries.