Dr. G. F. Wright, in 1912 (Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. XXV, pp. 205–218), accounted for the deposits and fossil animals and plants found at Toronto in a different way. At a certain time in the Pleistocene the region about Toronto was occupied by some species of animals and plants now found only considerably further south. An ice-sheet from the Keewatin center extended thither and laid down the Don beds. Later the Labrador glacier pushed into that region and deposited the Scarboro beds. According to this view the whole succession of events would be much shortened.
The writer is disposed to accept Leverett’s estimate of the geological position of the interglacial beds at Toronto. The presence there of Elephas primigenius, Mammut americanum, and the probable Ursus americanus hardly counts in the determination of the geological age, for all these animals appear to have continued on from at least the Aftonian interglacial to the close of the Wisconsin. There are no specimens that show that either Rangifer or Cervalces existed during the Aftonian, although one can hardly doubt that they did then exist. In order to show that the Toronto formation belongs to the Aftonian, it would be necessary to produce satisfactory stratigraphical evidence or to find there genera and species of mammals which characterize the Aftonian, such as camels, Elephas imperator, and those horses which belong to the early Pleistocene. If the deposits belong to the Sangamon stage, such horses as Equus complicatus and E. leidyi ought in time to be discovered there.
Coleman has discussed the interglacial beds that occur elsewhere in Canada (10th Internat. Geol. Congr. 1906, Mexico, pp. 1237–1258; Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. XXVI, 1915, pp. 243–254). He refers to Chalmers’s account of interglacial deposits along Lake Erie; but so far as the writer has been able to determine, most of the deposits referred to are of Late Wisconsin age. However, as he says, Spencer found interglacial materials near Niagara Falls. Other beds have been discovered along Moose River, south of James Bay; but their geological position has not been definitely determined, and the fossils discovered there, mostly proboscideans, are not referred with certainty to the interglacial deposits.
Most of the vertebrate fossils found in Ontario, excepting many of those found at Toronto, belong to the Late Wisconsin stage; and in studying their geological relations one must, as in the States of New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, take into consideration the history of the Great Lakes after the Wisconsin ice-sheet began to retire. According to Leverett and Taylor’s maps (Monogr. LIII, U. S. Geol. Surv., plate XIV), as early as the time when the glacial ice had just begun to withdraw from Lakes Michigan and Erie, a considerable area of land had become cleared of ice in the peninsula bounded by Georgian Bay, Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario. We can hardly suppose, however, that any mastodons or any elephants, except possibly Elephas primigenius, could have made their way to that area. Even the last-mentioned species would have had to travel over many miles of glacial ice. Conditions were hardly more favorable when Lake Whittlesey had come into existence (op. cit., plate XVI). At a later stage (op. cit., plate XVII) the ice-free parts of the peninsula could have been reached only by crossing the lakes or over wide stretches of glacier. It is possible that some of the mastodons and elephants that have been found had crossed over into Ontario at about the stage represented by plate XIX of the work cited, but it is more probable that they lived there at a later time.
Brief mention is here made of the fossil vertebrates found in Ontario and their localities. More detailed statements will be found on the pages cited.
Beginning in the west, a mastodon has been found at Blythewood, Essex County (p. [45]). In Elgin County a mastodon has been met with at St. Thomas (p. [45]), and a mastodon (p. [45]) and an undetermined species of elephant at Highgate (p. [45]). A little farther back from the lake, at London, Middlesex County, has been found a mastodon (p. [45]). At Marburg, not far from the shore of Lake Erie, Dr. H. M. Ami exhumed a mastodon (p. [45]). The writer has not learned how this locality is related to the ancient beaches. At Dunnville, Haldimand County, a mastodon has been secured (p. [46]). It could hardly have lived there before the lake had assumed nearly its present level. The same remark will apply to the time when the mastodon (p. [46]), Elephas columbi (p. [147]), and possibly E. primigenius (p. [166]) lived at St. Catharines. From Hamilton, at the extreme western end of Lake Ontario, have been described remains of Elephas columbi (p. [147]), E. sp. indet. (p. [166]), elk, Cervus canadensis (p. [235]), and the beaver. Elephas primigenius has been found at Toronto, (p. [130]); also Cervalces, a bison (p. [256]), and a reindeer (p. [244]). The same elephant has been discovered at Amaranth, in Dufferin County (p. [130]). The elk, Cervus canadensis, has been reported from Strathroy, Middlesex County, and Kingston, Frontenac County (p. [235]). At Smith’s Falls, Lanark County, the humpback whale, Megaptera boöps, has been discovered (p. [17]). White whales, Delphinapterus leucas and D. vermontanus, have been found at Pakenham, Lanark County (p. [17]), at Cornwall, Stormont County (p. [18]), Nepean Township (p. [17]), Ottawa East, Carleton County, and Williamston, Glengarry County (p. [18]). At Ottawa has been discovered an assemblage of species, as listed on page [287].
The geology of the Hamilton locality has been described by Logan (Geol. Canada, 1863, p. 914), by Spencer (Canad. Naturalist, vol. X, 1883, pp. 222–230, 306–308), and by Coleman (Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. XV, 1904, p. 351). The remains mentioned were found in deposits forming what is called Burlington Heights. Here Dundas Valley opens into the extreme western end of Lake Ontario. The valley is about a half mile wide. Across this had been formed a bar, interrupted only at its northern end, with a height of 108 feet above the level of the lake and a width varying from a few hundred yards to less than a half mile. Its height is almost that of the Iroquois beach found on the south shore of the lake and continuing on the northern shore. Many years ago a canal was cut through the narrowest part of the bar, and it was in the construction of this that the elephant (p. [166]), elk (p. [235]), and beaver bones were found. It is evident that the bones were deposited there while the bar was being built and at a time when it lacked 38 feet of being as high as it now is. The elephant jaw is in good condition, and this indicates that the animal died near the spot.
Coleman (op. cit., p. 352) stated that afterwards a railroad cut had been made across the southern end of the bar, exposing 30 feet of coarse stratified gravel, followed below by 2 feet of brown clay (evidently an old soil) and 8 feet of blue till. In the old soil were found quantities of decayed wood, as well as bones of mammoth and other animals. About a mile farther west, pits were opened for clay, sand, and gravel. Coleman gives the following geological section at this place. The column at the right gives the heights above the lake level.
| feet. | feet. | |
|---|---|---|
| Clay making red brick | 6 | 78 |
| Gravel | 30 | 72 |
| White sand | 5 | 42 |
| Hard pan | 4 | 37 |
| White sand with mammoth tusks and bones | 33 | |
| Covered to level of the bay | 0 |
The mammoth tusks and bones were not water-worn. It will be observed that they were found 83 feet below the top of the Iroquois beach (116 feet above the present lake), while the jaw was only about 45 feet below the beach. Both Coleman, as cited, and Fairchild (Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. XXVII, p. 247) regard the formation of the bar at Hamilton as showing that during Iroquois times the lake became flooded to a height of about 82 feet.